Reign of Batal
by Xanderick
Summary: Laibach returns to carry out his plan to merge his demon world with Earth. Three years have passed since his last attempt, but this time he is smarter, and much more stronger...
1. An Old Aquaintance

SUNNYDALE

_Buffy sat at the small table closest to the stage. Willow and Tara sat with her, holding each others hands, waiting eagerly for the performance. Xander and Anya stood by the bar, each holding drinks in their hand, the same look of anticipation planted on their faces. Unfortunately, Dawn would be missing this. She had to study for a huge test the next day. Buffy had to drop her off at Janice's so they could have a study session. Buffy would make sure she would tell her sister all about it when they got home._

_Giles stepped up onto the stage in front of The Bronze. He unstrapped his guitar from his chest, and sat down on the lone stool in the center of the stage. He faced up to begin his performance, before realizing that the microphone was too high. Tiny but noticeable chuckles sounded from the audience, which were only greeted by a warm smile from Giles as he adjusted the microphone. He cleared his throat, and began playing. He faced up to the microphone and opened his mouth to sing. A blaring ring echoed from his throat out into the audience. The noise was deafening. She covered her ears, wanting nothing more than for the horrible noise to stop. She looked up in surprise to see that no one was paying attention. Willow, Tara, Xander, and Anya were staring at the stage, no emotion to be seen. She soon realized that the entire crowd was doing the same thing. What was wrong with them? Could they not hear it? Giles continued to emit the blaring ring from his mouth. Buffy covered her ears tighter, and rested her head on the table. The noise was causing her head to pound._

Buffy's eyes snapped open to the sound of her alarm clock going off. She reached over and turned it off. She lifted up slowly, rubbing at her eyes gingerly. Her head was pounding.

_God, this feels like the worst hangover ever. In fact, it is._

She laid there, head throbbing as she recollected the crazy events of yesterday, which ended up with her downing a whole bottle of whiskey with Spike, out of all people. She had faced a day of Hell and mummy hands, and had decided to drown all her troubles away. She had puked most of the liquor up last night, but it still left her with a splitting headache. Something was causing all of those weird events to happen to her yesterday, but nobody had the slightest clue what it was. Willow, Tara, and Giles were still doing research. She would have to check with them to see if anything turned up while she was sleep. She checked the clock by her bed to see that it was 2:43 in the afternoon. She let out a deep sigh and slowly got out of bed.

"I'm never drinking again."

"What about this one? This demon specializes in magick." Tara said, pointing to the picture of the demon on the screen.

"No. If a bright orange demon was running around Sunnydale, I think someone would've notice." Willow said, shaking her head.

"But he knows magick. You don't think it's possible he could have, um, made himself invisible?"

"I don't think so, sweetie. It says here that his species is almost extinct. The last one was discovered during the Civil War. But let's keep that option open just in case we run into any neon orange demons in the future." Willow said, smiling.

Tara smiled back, but Willow could tell it was a pained smile. They had both been up all night researching for whatever caused the wacky events last night. Something was after Buffy, causing her to go crazy: fast forwarding time, repeating days, and demons that disappeared out of thin air and everyone else's memories but hers. She felt really bad for her, and was trying everything in her power to help.

_Okay, not literally everything in my power. There's still the option of trying a spell._

Willow knew a spell she could use that could help track down what could be causing it, or at least lower the search. She figured anything with the power to be doing those things must have been pulling in enough magickal energy. She knew a spell that could help detect wherever the energy was coming from. The only thing that was stopping her was Tara. Tara had nagged at her time and time again about using spells to get out of everything. Sure, it would have been a hell of a lot easier to do the spell and be done, but that's not what Tara wanted. Tara was really concerned about her. If it meant that much to her, then it must be the right thing. But still, she couldn't help it sometimes. Magick wasn't just a hobby anymore, it was who she was. It made her a valuable part of the group and she didn't want to lose that. But, in order to satisfy her sweetie, she had to do everything the old traditional boring way. And it was getting them all _nowhere_.

"Hey Buffy!" Tara said, snapping Willow from her thoughts.

She looked up to see Buffy walking into the dining room. She looked like hell. She had been drinking last night after going through that stressful day. She had slept most of the day. Now it looked like she had just gotten up.

"Hey, Buffy. You feeling okay?" Willow asked.

"Ugh, I wish. That's what I get for turning to Jack Daniels for sorrow. I'm doing a little better though, just got a major headache. I took a couple of aspirin, so I should be fine in a few hours. Anyways, any luck on the search?"

Tara was the one to speak up.

"No. We w-were able to find a few possibilities, but there is no way to figure out if it was them or not. Plus, it's still p-possible that it isn't a demon at all. It could be anything."

"Sigh. The best we could do is to keep looking. I'll go over to Giles' place today and brainstorm some more with him. Meanwhile, you girls keep looking."

"Sure thing, Buffy." Willow said, trying her best not to sound annoyed with the search. Buffy left the room, and Willow turned her attention back to the screen.

_This is getting nowhere fast._

LOS ANGELES 

Angel held his sword up just in time as Carlos' sword came down. Carlos let out a cry of frustration and began swinging his sword back furiously. Angel blocked each one. The loud CLANG could be heard over the sounds of Wesley and Gunn holding their own against a group of Carlos' vampire minions.

Angel found time to come in with an attack. The tip of the blade barely slicing the vampire's abdomen as he came in with a swing. Angel followed up with another swing towards his neck, attempting to end this headache, when Carlos brought his sword up to block the swing. He knocked Angel back, and in one swift move before Angel could register it, brought the sword down in a swinging arc, tripping Angel up and causing him to land on his back on the hard concrete.

Gunn decapitated the next vampire. A hoard of them had come after Angel encountered Carlos. Someone had called the hotel earlier asking specifically for Angel, giving them directions to this warehouse. He and Wesley had tagged along just in case it was a trap. It turned out Carlos was an old acquaintance of Angel. He controlled a group of vampires that stayed holed up in the old warehouse, and apparently he had found out about Angel living in Los Angeles. Whatever Angel did to him in the past, he wasn't too happy about. It wasn't long before about a dozen or so vamps came running out towards them. He and Wesley were busy taking them all out while Angel fought his own battle.

He took a glance over to see Angel take a nasty spill. He was just about to go run over there and help, when a vampire came out of nowhere and grabbed the handle of Gunn's axe. The vampire was a huge, ripped bald guy who kind of resembled a vampire version of Stone Cold Steve Austin. Gunn tried to hold back as the vampire pushed the handle up against his throat, attempting to choke the life out of him. He pushed Gunn up against the wall, glaring hungrily at him and baring his teeth. He started to get dizzy as he felt his air supply dwindling. He tried his best to fight back, but he became less and less strong as he tried desperately to breathe. The vampire's angry glare suddenly turned into a look of surprise until he was reduced to ash. When the ashes cleared, the grim face of Wesley stared back at him.

"You okay?" Wesley asked him.

"Yeah. Son-of-a-bitch thought he had me for a minute. But I aint gonna let no punk ass vamp take me down. I woulda dusted him sooner or later if you hadn't showed up." He replied confidently. Wesley shook his head.

Angel sat up from the ground, but stopped short by the tip of Carlos' sword as it reached his throat.

"This is what it comes down to, Angelus. Over a hundred years of torture over what you did to me. You killed my family, right before my eyes. You forced me to watch as you and your friends mutilated my siblings and drank my parents till they were dry. Then you turned me, made me one of you. Then, just like that, you left me behind. Forced me to clean up your mess and live for eternity suffering for what you had did. Now I finally find you, working with the living. Doing _good_. Now I…"

"You know what your problem is?" Angel interrupted. "You talk way too much. Do us all a favor and save the long bad guy speech. I mean boo-hoo, I killed your family, do you even care about people dying, regardless of who they are?"

"Hm, no not really…"

"Wouldn't _you _have killed your family if you met them now?" Angel asked him. Carlos shrugged his shoulders.

"Sure, I'd have my friends over for a drink."

"Don't you like being a vampire?"

"Love it, I'm 124, but ladies say I'm well-preserved." Carlos smirked.

"Then, why do you hate me again?"

"My cousin, Andrea, you killed her and I was gonna marry her. You could've sired her too. Remember her? She was the one with the…" he put his free hand cupped in front of his chest, indicating big breasts.

"Oh yeah," Angel said. "Why _did _I kill her?"

"My point exactly," Carlos said.

Unexpectedly, Angel grabbed the tip of Carlos' blade, and pushed it up. The hilt of the sword hit Carlos in the lower jaw hard enough to crack it. Carlos dropped the sword and backed away, cradling his broken jaw. Angel leaped up from the ground, snatching the sword that he dropped. He swung the sword just as Carlos looked up. The blade sliced cleanly through his neck, even severing the arm that was holding his broken chin. His head and forearm hit the ground before he dusted. Gunn and Wesley walked up from behind him, apparently worn out from the fight.

"Gotta agree with you, man. The bad guy speech gets a little old." Gunn said.

"Well then, I'm hope I'm not the only one who agrees that we could all use a hot shower and some bandaging from Cordelia right now." Wesley said.

"Not a bad idea, except the bandaging part. I've been through a lot worse. Let's get out of here." Angel said.

Angel kept the sword he had taken from Carlos had and walked towards the exit of the warehouse. Wesley and Gunn were way ahead of him.

---

"Try turning it. Maybe the pipe is just loosened up a bit." Fred said.

Cordelia stood on her knees on the side of the toilet, wrench in hand. Fred was sitting next to her, assisting her. Something was wrong with the toilet in the lobby's bathroom. The water in the bowl was slowly draining out and a stream of water was leaking out of the pipe in the back. The boys were out on an important call so it was up to the girls to fix it.

Cordelia placed the wrench on the pipe and turned. A gush of water sprayed right into her face. She screamed and jumped out of the way. They both screamed and jumped up. They ran back into the lobby. Cordelia was soaked from the belt up.

The front door of the hotel opened and Angel, Gunn, and Wesley came walking in. Fred ran up to greet them with an eager wave, excited to see them. Angel, especially. She had been sprung on Angel since they got back from Pylea. Angel had discovered her there stranded as an outcast living in a cave, hiding from the demons that wanted to capture her and make her their cow – or "slave" as we would call it. Cordelia got off a little easier. They made her queen of their little crappy dimension. It didn't flatter her enough to stay, of course. They ended up escaping the dimension with Fred. She had been stuck there for five years, so it took a lot of adjusting to the real world. She was doing okay, but let's face it, the girl still had issues.

"Everything go okay? We were worried about you for a second." Fred asked. "You could have all been dead or trapped somewhere. Trapped in a deep hole in the middle of nowhere where nobody can hear you except for yourselves. Nothing to eat but the occasional rodent that happens to scamper by everyone once in awhile. Soon forced to eat each other..."

Everybody stared at Fred in silence for a few minutes, eyebrows raised. Angel then looked at Cordelia, the strange look still etched on his face.

"The toilet is broken." She said breathlessly.

"Did you call a plumber?" he asked calmly.

"I was about to but we figured we could do it on our own…" Angel just looked at her, forming a small grin. "What was the call about?" Cordelia asked, determined change the topic.

Angel went to put the two swords away.

"Let's just say that I'm not trying to run into another psychotic Angelus-bent vampire from my past for a _very _long while."

"Angelus?"

A soft, sweet, familiar voice sounded from the front of the lobby. Everybody turned around in surprise to see who it was coming from.

_Drusilla._


	2. Laibach

SUNNYDALE

"Okay you guys, we need to figure this out fast, or something else oogy might happen, and it might not be pretty. Thus the usage of the adjective 'oogy'. Considering what coulda happened to me, I feel I was pretty lucky yesterday." Buffy said, standing in the living room in front of everyone.

Xander and Anya had showed up a few minutes ago and were sitting on the couch next to Willow and Tara. Dawn was slouched on the chair next to Buffy.

Buffy went over yesterday, counting the events off with her fingers.

"First, there was the trippy day at school were time literally went by pretty damn fast. I mean, you're probably thinking, a quick day at school not exactly a bad thing, right? But this was different. This was…creepy."

"Then after that at the site you said a few demons attacked some of my co-workers, but there wasn't any evidence." Xander spoke up.

"Right. These creepy things came out of nowhere and started attacking. I had to save a few lives, but afterwards, it was like they weren't even there. I went over to the Magic Box afterwards to do a little work and maybe clear my head a little, but then time kept repeating itself. I kept running into the same customers with the same problems time after time till I couldn't take it any longer."

"That's how it always is in the Magic Box. You'll get used to it. Just smile and take people's money and everything's good." Anya said. Buffy ignored her and kept going.

"After that nightmare ended, I may have gotten a little drunk so it was pretty much a blur. But I'm sure nothing else crazy happened after that, unless you want to count a crazy dream I just had. It involved Giles' singing at The Bronze and when he opened his mouth to sing, this disturbing goosebump-inducing sound came out of it."

"That wasn't a dream, Buff. That was Tuesday night." Xander said.

"Ok, but this wasn't the usual _old-man-singing_ type of creepy, this was something else." Buffy added.

"So what do you think it could be?" Willow asked.

"Maybe it's how Giles seems so dry and British, but when he gets on stage he's a complete tenor." Xander said.

"I wonder how long he's been doing that for. I'm surprised we didn't find out about that earlier." Willow added.

"Oh, I asked him about it, he used to sing only in the summer, when we had more important things to do than hang out at the Bronze," Xander said. "It was just recently that he decided to be all 'I'm British and my voice must be heard.'"

"Guys, can we please stay focused?" Buffy interrupted.

Dawn raised her hand.

"Oh! Maybe it's another witch, or warlock! You know, somebody else who might know magick?"

"Dawn, go upstairs." Buffy said, resolute.

"Why? I want to listen to what's going on."

"I don't want you down here, just go. Go do your homework or something."

"I just want to help. I don't need to be the only person that doesn't know what's going on. It's for my own good. That is what you would want, right? For me to be safe? It's safer for me to know."

"Dawn." Buffy said sternly.

Dawn huffed loudly and stomped up the stairs. Buffy watched her go up. She knew Dawn was right in some way, she just didn't feel comfortable with her being part of the gang. Dawn was the only thing she had to hold on to after mom died, and she couldn't imagine losing her. If she did lose her, she didn't want it to be because she let it happen.

"You know, the little munchkin is right. It could be another witch around here somewhere." Anya said.

"Yeah, but we can't be too sure. We could just keep looking. We're bound to find out some way."

"There is a better way." Willow spoke up.

"Let's hear it."

"Whatever it is, a demon, a witch, anything, it has to be using spells to do all that to you. Magick leaves residue, and with the right knowledge of spells it can be tracked down. I know a spell that can locate the trail of anyone using magick. It can lower the search by a ton."

Tara, who had been quiet all this time, spoke up.

"No, absolutely not. Willow, you know you don't need to be messing with anymore spells. It's a good idea, but right now we're doing great without the use of magick. I don't want you to become lost in that stuff."

"Tara, this research is getting us nowhere. We can look on the internet and brainstorm all we want, but it's not doing anything. It's just one spell. I can do it real quick and be done."

"You have a point there, Will." Buffy agreed. "But Tara is right, you don't need to be doing anymore spells. We can do this without it. It'll be just like old times. We'll stick to research and brainstorming. Maybe even do a couple of spy missions to see if we can find anything that will lead us to our culprit."

"And if that doesn't work, we can keep the Magic Box open all night and kick the asses of anyone who walks in to buy anything witchy." Xander added.

"Sorry, Will." Buffy said softly.

Willow sighed and gave in. Tara squeezed her hand and gave her an apologetic look.

"Maybe some other time."

LOS ANGELES

Winifred Burkle looked around the lobby of the hotel. Angel was looking back at the pale woman, a look of shock worn on his face. Wesley and Gunn didn't look as stunned, but they looked back at the pale woman with a look of anger, weapons held closely. Cordelia sighed heavily from behind the counter.

"Oh boy." Cordelia said.

"Drusilla. What's going on? What are you doing back?"

"I can feel 'im, Angel. He's making my head spin like the wheels of a bicycle as the little boy lies bruised and bloodied on the street, helpless as the bus crushes him under its wheels. He speaks to me, saying naughty things. He wants to open his portal into his home. He wants it to merge with our world, to become one. The Master had been a bad boy. He doesn't need him to play anymore." She replied. Fred didn't understand what she was rambling about, but apparently Angel did.

"Laibach."

"Who's Laibach? Who are you?" Fred asked the lady. The woman seemed to sway a little, staring blankly at each of them, as if not really seeing them.

_She seems kinda crazy. _

"Fred, this is Drusilla. She's a vampire, like me. I turned her a long time ago after driving her insane, and she's been driving _me _insane since." Angel answered.

"Yeah, yeah, we've heard the story." Gunn replied. "The real question is, who the hell is Laibach?"

"Laibach is a very bad boy. He remembers you, Angel. I can feel 'im shiver with madness at your presence. He has come back. He is not done playing with his toys."

Fred stood there, confused. Clearly this vampire was mad. She still didn't know who this Laibach guy was, and from the look of it, she wasn't gonna get the answer from her.

"I got this one." Cordelia said. "Laibach is a demon who was bent all over trying to open up a portal into his demon dimension. He showed up in Sunnydale a few years back when I was in high school with Buffy. Apparently he was in Drusilla's body and used that as an advantage to resurrect The Master, one of the strongest vampires of all time, I guess. But Buffy, Angel, and a handful of their friends including yours truly stopped him and killed The Master."

"And now he's back." Angel added.

Drusilla closed her eyes and began to moan, rubbing her temples.

"I need your help, Angelus. He's swallowing me whole. He wants to take over my being, leaving me helpless and empty again. He wants my music, my birds, to make it his."

"I say we kill her." Gunn said, holding up his axe. Wesley held his hand up.

"We cannot risk it. There's still a lot we don't know about this demon. Killing Drusilla might only release him into the open. Our best bet is to keep Drusilla alive and find a way to get rid of him."

"Wesley's right." Angel said. "We can't risk letting Laibach escape. We need to keep Drusilla safe somewhere and find a way to get rid of him."

"As long as she isn't staying at my place. One night of that insane babbling and I'll put a stake to my own heart." Cordelia said.

"We'll keep her here. Wesley, you, me, and Gunn will keep close watch on her. We'll keep her locked up in one of the rooms heavily guarded till one of us can come up with a solution."

"How much longer do we have before this demon guy comes out?" Fred asked.

"We don't know. Let's just hope not soon. Right now, just find everything you can on him. Where he came from and how to get rid of him."

"What about that talisman thing that Willow used last time he came around? Maybe we can use that." Cordelia said.

Angel nodded his head.

"I still have it locked up somewhere. Buffy gave it to me afterwards to keep it safe, in case we need it again. I'm not sure how to use it though. Call Willow. See if we can get her down here and fast."

Cordelia nodded and ran for the phone.

"Angelus, I'm feeling dizzy. Tiny candles are flickering before my eyes, and there are ringing bells and dissonant music; and I think it means I'm getting married, but I still haven't hired a caterer."

She closed her eyes and began swaying back and forth. Angel could tell that she really wasn't well – or not as well as someone as mad as Drusilla could get. Angel moved towards her carefully, motioning for Gunn and Wesley to follow.

"Come on, Dru. We'll keep you somewhere safe."

She stared at him in a puppy-like fashion. She extended her arms out, allowing him and Wesley to take her from each side. They turned around and took her upstairs, Gunn following behind, axe bared. They had to find a resolution and find it fast. There was no telling how much longer they had.

SUNNYDALE

Willow hung up the phone just as Buffy walked in.

"Hey Will, doing okay?"

Willow looked up worriedly.

"Buffy, we have a problem."

---

"Laibach? Willow, are you sure?" Giles asked, bemused.

"That's what Cordelia said. She said Drusilla stopped by the hotel, claiming to have Laibach in her again. They don't know how long, but it's not a lot of time before he fully emerges. Cordelia called about the Tedarke talisman. They want to use it to extract Laibach from Drusilla again." Willow said. Anya raised her hand.

"Hello? Mind filling in those who just tuned in? What the hell are you talking about?"

"I'll fill you in later, sweetie." Xander said.

"So what are we gonna do?" Buffy asked. Giles took his glasses off.

"Angel doesn't have the magickal experience to work with the talisman, nor does he know anyone trustworthy who has even _heard _of it. Somebody will need to go to Los Angeles to perform the ritual. With the current situation with our two witches, I'm afraid it will have to be me."

Nobody argued. They understood the levity of the situation. Willow was trying to cut down on the magick, and Tara didn't know much about the talisman.

"Do you need anybody to go with you?" Buffy asked him.

"No, that would be quite alright. I'll handle this myself. I-I'm sure this is no big deal. I'll just dispose of Laibach once more and be done with it. If anything goes wrong, I'm sure Angel can take care of it. Otherwise I can always give you a call. First I need to go to the Magic Box to collect some things for the ritual."

"Good luck, Giles. Give us a call when you arrive." Buffy said.

"Of course."

"I'll go with you to the Magic Box." Willow offered.

Giles nodded his head and started for the door. Willow walked up to Tara.

"You want to come with us?"

"I'm okay, sweetie. T-there's still a lot of r-research to be done. I'll keep looking; get more of a head start for tonight." Willow nodded.

"Good idea, I'll see you in an hour, ok?"

Willow gave her a peck on the cheek. Tara blushed and stroked her hair. Willow smiled back, and backed up from her to follow after Giles. Tara, still blushing, watched as her sweetie left. She wasn't gonna regret doing this for her.

---

Tara walked upstairs into her room, and locked the door. She went over to the bookcase and pulled out a spell book Willow had got from the Magic Box a few weeks ago. She found her place in the book and set it down. She opened up her top drawer and pulled out the clear crystal needed for the spell. She pulled out a match from the box on the bookcase and walked around the room, lighting each of the wicker candles set about.

Tara went to the center of the room, and sat down, legs crossed, crystal in her open palms. She stared at the glimmering crystal, and cleared her mind of everything, burning the image of the crystal in her mind. She then allowed her mind to be filled with magick. She opened herself up, allowing her to peek at her own power. The crystal began to glow. The blinding light forced her to close her eyes, but she held back. Her eyes watered from the pain. Her head was starting to pound. It was becoming to the point of unbearable. She couldn't do this anymore. She wasn't powerful enough. She didn't know how much more she had to take before the spell would take effect.

She decided enough was enough. With all her strength, she slammed the crystal onto the ground, shattering it to pieces. The light disappeared, and the room was blanketed into darkness. All of the candles had gone out. Tara took a deep breath, and lay back onto the carpet, staring up at the ceiling, the headache still lingering. The spell wasn't worth it. She made the right decision not allowing Willow to do it, it was way too powerful. They would have to stick with the plain old research for now.

_After I lay down first. Not feeling too good._

The headache was still bothering her, and she was starting to feel really dizzy. The ceiling was spinning above her head. The spell had taken a lot out of her. She slowly rose from the carpet and went to her drawer to slip some pajamas on. She went over to the bed and lied down. Willow was gonna be upset with her trying the spell behind her back. But it was worth keeping her away from any spells. Magick was dangerous and was known for consuming people who used it too much. If it was going to hurt anybody, she would rather it would be herself than her Willow.

Tara closed her eyes and allowed herself to fall into a deep sleep. Hopefully she would feel much better after getting enough rest.

LOS ANGELES

"Right this way, sir." Fred said, leading the plumber into the bathroom. He was a short, stocky guy with a mustache and slick, greasy hair. He wore light-blue coveralls with the name "Dan" stitched right below his left lapel. Dan followed her into the bathroom.

"Christ, lady, what did you do to it?" he asked incredulously, staring at Cordelia's attempt to fix the toilet. She smiled nervously.

"You think you could fix it?" she asked him.

"No problem. I'll take care of it." He said with a smile. Fred smiled back warmly and went back into the lobby. Cordelia was talking to Angel at the desk. Lorne was standing nearby, in a loud yellow outfit that clashed with his skin color. But there was something about Lorne that made it work for him.

"So, I guess this Lego guy is back, huh?" Cordelia asked.

"Laibach." Angel corrected. "We shouldn't have to worry much this time, though. Last time, we didn't know what we were doing before it was almost too late. We didn't know about the talisman's power until Willow researched it, after I was already possessed with The Master. Together, there was no telling how much damage they could have caused if they succeeded to get the portal open."

"Okay, let's say that we run out of time and Laibach manages to escape and take the talisman; do you think he would bring back The Master to open this portal again?" Cordelia asked.

"I'm not sure what he would do. It's possible that over the years, he might be powerful enough to do it himself. Let's not worry about that now, though. As long as the Tedarke talisman works, and Giles uses it to exorcise Laibach from Drusilla, then we have nothing to worry about. Did you get any word from him?"

"He's on his way from Sunnydale now. He should be here in an hour or so."

"Hopefully that hour isn't all Laibach needs."

"Don't be such a worry wart, Angel Cakes." Lorne said, placing a hand on his shoulder. "I went to go check up on the deranged princess a minute ago to read her. Laibach is in there, all right. But he doesn't seem to be planning anything soon. He's dormant right now. Besides the usual insane babble, she's doing okay."

"Good. Then we still got time."

Dan came out of the bathroom, soaked.

"Okay, all done. Might want to get a few mops in there, though." He stopped to take a look at Lorne. "What in the hell are you?"

"Oh, um, I'm in the show. You have to excuse me, I didn't realize I still had my makeup on." Lorne chuckled.

The plumber looked back at him, strangely, oblivious to the humor. Lorne cleared his throat nervously and took a sip of his apple martini.

"So, how much will that be?" Angel asked, breaking the uncomfortable moment.

"That'll be $150, sir."

Angel winced at the price. He looked at Cordelia.

"Don't look at me! I'm not the one handing out stingy paychecks."

Angel sighed and pulled his wallet out. There was nothing left in there but a crumpled twenty-dollar bill.

"Do you accept MasterCard?"

---

BEEP!

"Ma'am, a Mr. Carthello is waiting to see you." The secretary said calmly on the machine.

"Good, send him in." Lilah replied.

She waited patiently at her desk, tapping her pen lightly against her shoulder until a soft knock sounded at the door.

"Come in."

Dan Carthello stepped inside. He looked a mess. His black hair and blue coveralls were soaked.

He bowed graciously, despite his informal appearance.

"You have something for me?"

"Y-yes. While I was spying at the hotel, I overheard them mention something about a demon that goes by the name of Laibach. They said he was trying to open a portal of some kind. He appears to be holed up in the hotel; in the body of a woman they called Drusilla."

Lilah recognized that name. Laibach was a very powerful demon, or so she heard. Wolfram & Hart had records of him appearing in Sunnydale a few years back. Apparently, he had summoned the ancient vampire known as The Master to open up a portal into his dimension, to unleash Hell-on-Earth. The Slayer that resided at the Hellmouth managed to somehow banish him, and from what this man was telling her, he was back, and in Los Angeles. She couldn't imagine the respect she could gain from the Senior Partners if she could capture this demon her self and convince it to become a client to Wolfram & Hart.

_Not to mention I'll show that little son-of-a-bitch Gavin who's boss. That little snake has been trying to steal my shine since the firm hired him._

"Anything else you would like to add?"

"They said a man from Sunnydale named Giles was coming there to use something called a Tedarke talisman. It's supposed to be able to exorcise the demon from the host. He's on his way."

She didn't know who Giles was, but since he was coming from Sunnydale and possessed the skill it took to work the Tedarke talisman, he must have had a connection with the banishing of Laibach earlier. She would have to research him later on. Right now, her main goal was to get Laibach from the hotel before Angel and his lackeys managed to get rid of him again. She would have to gather up a team to attack the hotel. It was risky, but it would be worth seeing the look on Gavin's face when she was awarded by the Senior Partners.

"Okay. Will that be all?" she asked him.

"Yes, ma'am."

"Good."

She pressed the button on her desk. Security was right on cue and two guards came in and stood beside him, silently.

"What about my money?" he said, confused.

"Thank you for your help." She said coldly.

Dan looked at the guards on either side of him and then back at Lilah, who was smiling carelessly, and his face took on an expression of realization.

"You bitch," he said, breathing heavily, almost without the strength to say the words.

"Kill him," she ordered.

They held onto him roughly as they pulled him out the door.

"No!" he pleaded. "No! No!"

After the door closed, Lilah sat up and gathered her stuff. She had work to do.


	3. Reunpossession

Rupert Giles sat his bag on top of the counter. He unzipped it and took out some candles, setting them on the desk. Cordelia reached in the bag and took out a pair of brightly-colored wooden masks.

"Ugh! Do you have to use these for the ritual?" she asked him.

"Yes. They have some form of mystical energy. When they are worn, the wearer is able to keep the host in a state of peace, so the ritual can be done successfully."

"I don't have to wear one of them do I?" she held one of them in her hand, staring at it disgustedly.

"No, Cordelia. If you don't want to participate in the ritual, then sit out, be my guest." He said, irritated.

He looked up at her to see her smiling at him.

"Glad to see you again, Giles." She said warmly.

Right then, he noticed just how much she changed over the years. She didn't appear to be the same Cordelia that he had known. The one who always came in complaining about something. Arguing over pettiness, and lashing about at everyone. She seemed a lot more mature. Not to mention the haircut.

"T-thank you Cordelia. I-it is a pleasure to see y-you again as well." He said bashfully.

"I just missed seeing you get all worked up and uptight. I just wanted to push your buttons…but I'm still not wearing that mask." She said, sitting up from the counter.

"Very well then."

"Are we all ready?" Angel asked, coming up.

"Yes, just a few more things. Do you have the talisman?"

"Yeah."

Angel pulled took out a small leather satchel. He opened it out to expose the Tedarke talisman. It still emitted a powerful glow. Though not as bright as it did a few years back. He handed it to Giles.

"So how is this supposed to work?" he asked.

"We'll lay Drusilla on the floor, while two people will wear the masks and wave their hands in front of them on each side of her. It is supposed to keep her in a sort of, calm state."

"That shouldn't be much of a problem, she's out cold. Which means we may not have much time." Angel said.

"Well, v-very well then. We must hurry. I'll use the talisman and connect with its power, using it to banish Laibach from her body. But the spell requires total concentration. I'll need it to be very quiet."

"Sure thing. I'll go and help bring her down now. Good luck, Giles."

Angel ran upstairs.

---

Lilah stood outside the Hyperion, watching intently as the events inside unfolded. Angel cradled the limp form of Drusilla in his arms, his partners, Wesley Price and Charles Gunn, following closely behind. Lilah rubbed at her neck involuntarily, remembering the night that she had almost lost her life in the hands of Dru and her partner Darla. The both of them slaughtered a room full of Wolfram & Hart employees, including Lindsey and herself. The both of them had been spared, but the rest were killed. Their leader, Holland, was amongst the ones who didn't make it. But that was in the past now. She didn't matter to her anymore. Her main concern was Laibach. Drusilla getting lost in the process would be killing two birds with one stone.

Along with Angel and the other two was the girl with the visionary powers, Cordelia Chase, and the green-skinned demon Lorne. Two other people were there that Lilah wasn't too familiar with. A skinny brunette with a blue sweatshirt and jeans, and an older man with graying hair and glasses, dressed in a grey sweater and jeans as well. She assumed this was Giles, the one from Sunnydale here to banish Laibach, which meant she would have to hurry soon. The troops were behind her by the trucks, waiting for her signal. She took another look back into the hotel to see them starting the spell. Wesley and Gunn were performing some incantation besides Drusilla as she lay dormant on the tile of the lobby. Giles was cross-legged on the desk, in a trance. The Tedarke talisman was glowing in the palm of his hand.

Lilah spoke into her radio.

"All set, gentlemen."

---

Angel watched intensely as Giles, Wesley, and Gunn performed the ritual. Cordelia, Fred, and Lorne stood by quietly. The spell required absolute silence so Giles could concentrate. The talisman allowed Giles to focus on Dru in his mind and pull the demon out of her body. Willow did the same thing to him and Dru the last time Laibach made an appearance. Drusilla's body remained still as Wesley and Gunn stood over her. Angel didn't know how much longer it was gonna take for Giles to be done, but as long as she stayed that way, everything would be fine.

Something caught his attention at the corner of his eye. He turned towards the front of the lobby, and saw Lilah peering through the window, a radio in the palm of her hand.

_What is she doing here?_

"Angel!" Cordelia yelled. He looked at her to see what the problem was. She was staring behind him in shock, pointing towards Drusilla. Fred leaped up, wearing the same expression. He turned around just in time to see Drusilla leap up off the ground, vamped out. She grabbed Gunn by his shirt and flung him off to the side. His head crashed into the wall by the office and he fell out cold. Wesley retaliated quickly. He ran up to her and swung his fist. She blocked it with her right forearm and came back with a punch to his lower jaw, causing him to bite his lip. He fell back in pain as blood spilled from his lip. Angel tried to come in, but she was too fast. She headbutted him in the forehead as he came close, then raked her sharp nails across his face. He backed up and tripped as he ran into the couch. Drusilla then ran up to Giles, who was frantically trying to finish the spell. She came in at full force and pushed him off the desk. She grabbed the talisman and with all her strength, smashed it against the table. A sudden bright wave of red energy emitted from the talisman as it shattered into pieces. She glared at them with her insane, yellow eyes, and took off. She ran out the front door and into the night.

Cordelia, Fred, and Lorne ran to help the others up. Angel and Wesley were already up on their feet. Cordelia had to help Giles up, and Gunn was still out cold.

"You okay Giles?" Cordelia asked.

"I'll be okay, don't worry about me. Laibach is our main concern right now."

"Giles is right. We have to hurry."

"What about Gunn?" Fred asked.

"Stay in here and watch him. We'll be right back. She couldn't have gone far."

Wesley and Giles both grabbed swords out the cabinet and followed Angel out.

---

Lilah called her men back and told them to wait as she watched what went on inside. Drusilla had suddenly jumped up from her trance and attacked the hotel. She took out Wesley and Gunn first, before knocking Angel on his ass and destroying the Tedarke talisman. She then took off and ran out the hotel. Her men tried to stop her, but she got away, incapacitating a couple of them in the process.

_Shit, I wasn't expecting this kind of resistance. The firm is gonna have my ass for this._

The doors swung open again and out came Angel, along with Wesley and Giles. Her men retaliated quickly. Angel vamped out and took on a couple of them bare fisted, while the other two had swords. Lilah watched as the three of them took on the soldiers, knocking them out one by one. Giles had wounded one as he pierced him in the thigh, while Wesley took out another as he cracked one in the side of the head with the butt of his weapon. Angel had knocked out another two with a swift kick to the side of the face and a vicious uppercut to the jaw.

As she watched, she could hear Gavin laughing at her, the little prick. She would never hear the end of it. She was gonna have to come up with a better plan. Hopefully she could get another team to chase her down before the firm found out. As if on cue, her radio sounded. One of the soldiers spoke on the other end.

"We found the host, ma'am. She's headed towards Sunnydale. Over."

"On my way."

---

Angel kicked the guy in the side of the face, knocking him out. He heard a radio go off and looked to see Lilah holding hers up.

"She's headed towards Sunnydale." The guy on the radio said.

He had to get to Sunnydale then, and he wasn't gonna let Lilah get in the way.

He walked up to Lilah and lifted her up by her shirt, pushing her up against the wall.

"Stay out of this Lilah! Laibach is planning to open up the portal, releasing things that you couldn't even imagine. The last thing we need is for you getting in our way! This is none of your business!"

"And what if I make it my business?" she asked, impudently. "The firm is interested in Laibach. We don't want anything to do with you except get to him."

"Why do I have the feeling there is no 'we' in this?"

"I can help you, Angel." She offered.

"We don't need your help."

He let go of her and went back into the hotel, where everyone including Giles and Wesley waited after the soldiers retreated. They had to hurry.

"We're going to Sunnydale." Angel said as he stormed into the hotel. Gunn sat on the couch, holding a warm towel over his head while Cordelia checked on him. Fred stood nearby watching. Lorne stood by the counter inspecting the broken pieces of the Tedarke talisman.

"How are you doing, Gunn?" Wesley asked.

"Pretty banged up, but I'll be alright. Don't mind the attention Ms. Chase is giving me, though." He said, looking up at Cordelia. She slapped him on the chest.

"Angel, we should hurry." Giles said, frantically.

"Definitely. Who's coming along?"

"Count me in." Cordelia said. "I wouldn't mind checking out things in Sunnydale, see how things are going. Beats the hell out of waiting in this place all day waiting for something to happen."

Angel nodded his head.

"Sure, what about you, Wes?"

"I am going to stay here. If you're gone, someone is going to have to stay behind and keep watch for things. Plus, with Buffy out there, you shouldn't have much trouble without me."

"Agreed. Gunn, you stay behind too. If anything goes wrong out there, I don't think you'll be in much shape to fight."

"Plus, I want you here with me. If you think you're okay, you'll be much better use here in case something happens." Wesley stated.

Gunn looked like he wanted to protest, but stopped after seeing the resolute looks of Wesley and Angel.

"Fine." He sighed.

"I'll stay here with the Deadly Duo." Lorne said. "I wouldn't be much of a help out there. Plus, I can't leave the Caritas behind. I gotta lot of work under my horns. You kids have a good time at the mouth of Hell."

Fred raised her hand eagerly.

"Oh, can I go? I'm not that good with the fightin' and all, but I don't want to stay behind. What if something happens to you?"

"Fred, I know you're worried, but I wouldn't feel safe with you out there in case something happens. Wesley and Gunn can take care of you."

"Ah, let the little snapper go, Angel Cakes." Lorne said. "I can see all the determination and spirit in her right now. She can be quite the fire cracker when she wants to be. Let her tag along."

"Fine. We don't have much time to argue anyways. Let's go."

Cordelia, Fred, Giles, and Angel headed for the weapons cabinet. They grabbed a handful of stakes, crossbows, knives, and axes, and went to the front of the hotel.

"Giles?" Wesley called. Giles turned around.

"Good luck, old man." He said with a warm smile. Giles returned it.

"Godspeed." He replied. He turned around to follow the others.

"What the hell does that mean, anyways?" Cordelia asked as they left the building.

---

"Lilah?" Gavin called as she strolled through the halls back towards her office.

She spun around to see the little creep smiling back at her.

"How'd it go out there? Was Angel all-to-happy enough to hand over the demon to you?" he mocked.

Lilah stared back at him in disbelief.

"How did you…"

"You didn't think I would find out sooner or later? The radios are issued by the firm. It didn't take much but a request to tap into the system and listen to your little escapade. I applaud you, Lilah. You did an excellent job. You might be giving me a run for my money."

"You could do better? What would you have done? Corner him with building codes? I want you to know this is not over. I'm not letting something this big slip from my hands. I'm going back out there. Join me or ridicule my efforts all you like, but if you think I'm gonna sit here all day and rely on health violations to get the job done like you, you have another thing coming."

She stormed off, leaving him behind speechless. She was going to assemble another team. Angel's words, like always, meant nothing to her. If it meant a trip to Sunnydale, then that's where she would be. She wasn't gonna let an opportunity like that escape.


	4. Welcome Back to the Hellmouth

SUNNYDALE

"How is she?" Buffy asked as she stood in the doorway.

"Better. Her temperature went down a bit after I gave her something to eat, so she's sleeping peacefully now." Willow said, looking down on Tara. "I don't get it, Buffy. Why would she do this? She went behind my back and now look what happened. She could have been killed, and it would have been all my fault for making her have to do this."

"But she didn't, Will. Don't worry about it. At least we know now that the spell won't work so we can go ahead and find another plan. You should be happy you have someone who is willing to risk her life and health just to save yours. The best we can do now is let her rest. We can take care of everything without her. Trust me, she'll be okay."

Buffy was right. Tara would be fine. She was grateful Tara would go that far to help her, but it still didn't shake the guilt that it was all her fault. Still, worrying about something that could have happened wasn't going to help. They had bigger worries. Willow sighed heavily.

"Any word on the Laibach issue?" she asked, determined to change the subject.

"Not yet. The last time I talked to Giles, he was getting ready for the ritual. That was a couple hours ago, though. I hope everything is okay."

"He said he'll call if anything goes wrong, right? If he hasn't called, maybe that's a good thing."

"Or a bad thing." Buffy added.

The phone rang out in the hallway. Buffy ran eagerly out the room to answer it.

"That's probably him now." Buffy said. Willow nodded her head and Buffy ran out to go pick it up.

"What's going on?" Tara asked, waking up.

"Nothing, baby. Buffy went to get the heads up on the Laibach issue. You feeling any better?"

Tara ignored the question, seeming concerned about what she just said.

"Laibach issue? So that problem hasn't been resolved yet?"

"Not that we know of. Buffy is about to find out in a minute. Don't worry about it."

Tara loosened up a bit, then smiled warmly at her. She placed her hand on Willow's cheek.

"I'm sorry, sweetie. I didn't mean to scare you."

"Don't worry about it. Just rest for now."

"Guys, we have a problem." Buffy said, coming in.

"What is it?" Willow asked, worriedly.

"It's Laibach. He's on his way. Giles and the others were too late. Laibach fully took over and escaped. Angel and Giles are chasing him down right now. He's on his way here to go ahead with his plan to open the portal."

"Where could she be going?" Willow asked.

"The only place Laibach can go to do the ritual."

"The Hellmouth." Willow said, understanding. Buffy nodded.

"Then we have to stop him." Tara said, suddenly getting out of bed.

"Tara, what are you doing? You should be in bed." Willow said, placing her hand on her shoulder to hold her back. Tara pushed her hand away.

"I'm fine. Don't worry about me. We need to be worried about Laibach right now."

"Tara…"

"Look, I know a spell that will block his chances of opening up that portal."

"Is that possible?" Buffy asked.

"Not completely. But it should delay him at least." She turned to Willow. "I just need you to trust me, Willow. I can do this. I'm not completely well, but if you would help me, we can do this."

Willow smiled and nodded her head, understanding. Tara was genuinely sorry for what she did. She couldn't stay mad at her. Plus, this was no time to argue.

"So, it's a plan then. Willow, go call Xander and Anya over to come watch Dawn. Then we'll all head over to the school to beat Laibach to the Hellmouth. I'll keep him, or her, whatever, busy while the two of you try to counter his magic. I'll call Spike for backup."

Willow got up and went for the phone. Tara sat up and began crawling out of bed.

"I'll get ready."

"Tara?" Buffy called.

"Yeah?"

"Be careful."

---

Spike sat in front of the television, staring at the screen as he took a drag from his cig. He had just got back from patrolling the town with no luck. He thought about checking on Buffy, but she wasn't much for talking. She was all wound up about something coming after her. Her and her lackeys were out flipping pages and brainstorming on clues on what the bloody hell it could be. Spike wasn't much for the research part of the gig. He would wait around until Buffy gave him the order to bunch some skulls in, assuming whatever it was had skulls.

The door swung open loudly, smashing into the wall. Spike jumped up to see who it was.

_Speak of the devil._

"Spike."

"Evenin' Slayer, what brings you to my neck of the cemetery?"

Buffy looked up at the TV.

"Are you watching 'Passions'?" she asked in amusement.

"Um, no."

Spike jumped up to turn the TV off. He walked up closer.

"What can I do you for? Um, do for you?"

Buffy's head tilted a bit, studying him, then shook it off.

"Laibach is back in town. Apparently when you tried to pull off that little trick on us a few years ago, we didn't get rid of him for good. He's coming back to open up the portal to his Hell dimension and swallow the town. You know, that old chestnut."

Spike nodded.

"What about The Master? Is that old sod back in this?"

"Doesn't look that way. The last time The Master proved to be too cocky enough to be on his side. He wants to do this on his own now."

"What's in it for me this time? Seems like the only time you come to me is when the water gets to hot for you. Need ol' Spike to help you cool it down. Then once you're done, you treat me like dirt."

Spike knew that wasn't true. Buffy needed him. They both knew that or otherwise his remains would have been scattered throughout Sunnydale by now. He just wanted to hear her say it. He loved hearing Buffy confess how much he needed him. How much he wanted him…

Spike shook off that thought. As much as he fantasized about them being together, it would never happen. He tried it once last year, and it ended badly. There was no way in bloody Hell Buffy would even consider the fact.

Buffy closed her eyes and sighed. She looked back up at him.

"He has Drusilla again. He took her over for purposes unknown to me, but that's what he did. And now he's here, once again in the form of your psycho ex-lover."

Spike let it all sink in. He remembered the last time Laibach took advantage of her. He had helped him resurrect The Master, who would help him open up the portal to his dimension. Spike wasn't too keen on the idea, but the old sod had a hold on Drusilla, and he wasn't going to let her hurt her. He turned to Buffy and the gang to get her back, and they succeeded. What could he want from her now? Spike didn't really want to know. His main concern now was getting her back again. Sure he was over her now, but that didn't mean he wanted her gone forever. He would team up with Buffy again to stop it. He stared at her with intense eyes.

"So what's the plan?"

"Haven't really gotten there yet. But it has a lot to do with us kicking his ass and making sure he doesn't get to that portal. Willow and Tara are at the Hellmouth conjuring up a spell to help keep him at bay."

"Let's go."

Spike grabbed his leather coat off the bed and followed Buffy out. He'd be damned if Laibach took Drusilla again.

---

Willow sat nervously on the cold, dank floor of the former library of Sunnydale High, right above the gaping pit that was formed in the center of the room. She felt a sudden urge of nostalgia. So many memories in this one room: some good, some bad. This was where she nearly gotten eaten by a three-headed Hell beast while Buffy fought and killed The Master for the first time. This was where they all met frequently to confront the next baddie that came into town, and where Oz was locked up during the three nights of the full moon every month. It was all in the past now. They all graduated from high school and moved on. Of course most of them were still around fighting the good fight, Willow imagined what it would have been like if the others like Angel, Cordelia, and Oz had never left. Still, she still had Buffy, Xander, and Giles to reminisce those days with. Plus, she always had Tara to talk to. She wasn't around while they were in high school, but she loved to listen to her wild stories of them cutting class to kill vampires and fight the forces of darkness.

Tara finished putting everything in place and sat cross-legged in front of her.

"All set?" Willow asked her.

"Yep." She replied anxiously.

"So what do we have to do?"

"You don't have to do much of anything, I got it under control. I just need your guidance and energy. Just take my hands and concentrate. Clear your mind. I'll put up a spell of protection as well to make sure nothing comes after us while we're doing this. Just trust me, sweetie."

Willow smiled and allowed Tara to grab her hands. The warmth from her hands soothed her. She allowed the pleasant comfort to envelope her; violate every part of her body. She could feel her mind clearing of any outside thoughts, just concentrating on Tara's warmth and energy. Tara whispered a few words softly, and Willow could feel a protective barrier form over her head, protecting them from the outside world. Everything around her was suddenly mute, as the barrier blocked out all sound. She didn't even hear the commotion after Buffy and Spike had walked in.

"Looks like the girls got the mojo under control, eh?" Spike said as he watched Willow and Tara chanting softly under a sphere of green energy.

"Yep. No need to worry about them. Tara knows what she's doing. That shield should protect them from anything trying to interrupt the spell." Buffy said.

"Like them."

Buffy turned around to see a group of vampires coming in. Buffy could see Drusilla standing in the group. She could tell she was possessed. She looked a lot more out of it than usual. She looked at Spike, her eyes filled with recognition.

"Spike, remember, th…"

"That is not Drusilla. Yeah, I got the lecture notes. I'm not a bloody idiot, you know."

The vampires stared at them, hungry and tense, preparing to fight. Buffy tensed as well, ready for them to make the first move. A bulky vampire with a leather jacket swung a chain in his hands.

"I want the one with the chain." Spike said, watching his every move.

"Your call."

Three vampires suddenly went to Buffy's direction. One made it to her first and threw a punch. Buffy sidestepped to his left and grabbed his arm, lifting it up as she drove the stake into his heart. A strong fist burst through the cloud of ashes and connected with her face. The vampire exposed himself to do more damage. Buffy punched him back, causing him to stagger. She readied her stake, when suddenly, two huge arms wrapped around her waist and lifted her off the ground. The vampire in front of her smirked and moved in. She raised both her legs and kicked out at him, pushing him back further. The momentum from her kick caused the vampire holding her to lose his grip. She was already in motion before her body hit the floor. She was already on her feet and driving the stake into the first vampire before they knew what was going on. Buffy didn't even turn as she jabbed the stake into the burly vamp behind her.

Willow remained calm, still concentrating on Tara's warm hands. She was saying a chant in a tongue she was unfamiliar with. Her voice was getting hoarse from all the chanting. She was still sick. Willow would have to take care of her once this was all said and done. Willow felt her hand become warmer, and she suddenly began to feel tired. She could feel her own energy stirring inside her, aroused by Tara's words.

Spike dodged out the way as the chain swung fiercely towards him, narrowly hitting him in the head. A vampire jumped in front of him, trying to distract him. Spike staked him quickly, just in time for the chain to come for him again. He grabbed another vamp that was trying to approach him and placed him in the path. The chain smacked the vampire dead in the face. The vamp fell backwards into the Hellmouth, screaming all the way until his voice became faint. Spike acted quickly and grabbed the chain before the vampire could bring it back. He yanked it with all his strength and the vampire was yanked into his direction. He took the chain and wrapped it around his neck. Holding the chain around his neck, Spike swung in the other direction, tossing the vamp with the chain still connected. Spike was rewarded with a loud snap as his neck snapped from the force. Spike came in and put a stake through his heart as he lay helpless on the ground.

Before he had time to celebrate his victory, Laibach was on him. He started for him, still staring at him behind Drusilla's insane eyes. Spike didn't have time to react before he was on him. He dropped the chain just as he came in and started swinging, each punch connecting with his face, his chest, and his arms as he tried to block; each blow just as fierce as the last. Under the influence of Laibach, Dru was much stronger than she usually was. Any given day, Spike would kick her ass till she couldn't remember her name, but now Laibach had the upper hand.

Willow was starting to get more and more worried. As the spell went on, she could feel her body getting weaker and weaker.

_I don't think this is going well. I have to tell Tara to stop._

As much as she wanted to say or do something to end the spell, she couldn't. She couldn't find the energy to talk, or the strength to pull her hands away. She could feel Tara becoming more and more tense. She could feel sweat from Tara's face dripping down on her hands, her voice becoming more and more hoarse. She hoped the spell would end soon, because she was not loving this.

Dust flew all over as Buffy began staking vampires one by one. There had to be at least half a dozen of them. They all seemed to be trying to distract her as Laibach went after Spike. Hopefully Willow and Tara could get this thing done, the vamps were becoming too much. She risked a glance to see how Spike was faring when suddenly she was hit with what felt like a truck. She was slammed against the wall as a huge vampire hung over her and wrapped his huge hands around her throat. He bared his fangs, licking them hungrily as he choked the life out of her. Buffy struggled for breath, attempting to pry his hands from her throat, but he was too strong. She could feel herself becoming dizzy. The vampire held on as her life slowly slipped away from her.

Laibach continued to pound him to a bloody pulp. Every so often, Spike found an opening and was able to get in a hit or two, but they had no effect on him. He continued to bash his face in with fierce blows he was unable to block. Unless some type of bleeding miracle happened, he was undoubtedly going to be killed. Not that he liked to think much about failure.

Spike prepared himself for the next blow, almost positive this would be the one that would finish him off. Laibach came in and lifted his arm, then stopped. His eyes went wide and he lifted his arm down. A moan escaped from his borrowed lips in a much Drusilla-like voice. Spike didn't know what was wrong, but he took the opportunity. He grabbed Laibach by the arm and twisted it back, locking him in a hold. He screamed out, once again in Dru's voice. Dru could in fact be back, but he didn't want to take that chance.

"Daddy's friends are almost here, Spike. But I can't find anything to wear for the party." Laibach said, once again using Drusilla's voice.

"I don't know what you're trying to pull, Laibach, but you won't be able to pull a fast one on the Big Bad anymore, eh?"

"I already have." He said, smiling.

A vampire saw them and came running after Spike. Spike stood there, defenseless. He could retaliate, but that meant letting go of Laibach. He swung Laibach in the direction of the vampire, using him as a shield. He heard a faint zip as something flew through the air, and the vampire suddenly dusted. Clouds of ash blew into Spike's face as the vamp's form disappeared. After the dust cleared, Spike looked up to see Giles standing there with a crossbow. Next to him, stood two young women. One of them he recognized as Cordelia, that Nancy Boy Xander's old flame. On the other side, stood a slender, mousey girl, holding a crossbow shakily.

"Your time is up, Laibach." Giles said, resolute.

Laibach looked back at him, a pout planted in Drusilla's features Spike was all too familiar with. He focused his attention up to where Willow and Tara were still working on the spell.

"It's almost done."

Buffy's vision began to blur. The vampire still had a monster of a grip on her neck, and he wasn't gonna let go until she gave up the ghost. Buffy closed her eyes, waiting for a miracle to happen. She heard a sudden zip, followed by ash hitting her in the face. The grip was suddenly released. She took in all the oxygen her body could handle at once, and then coughed as she inhaled the remaining particles from the dusted vamp, her eyelids shielding it from getting in her eyes. Strong hands grabbed her by the arms and lifted her up. Whoever had saved her proceeded to dust her off. She rubbed her eyes to open them, and there stood Angel. He smiled back at her warmly, letting her know that he was here. Buffy couldn't resist. She locked him in a strong embrace. Angel tilted her head up and rewarded her with a long romantic kiss. They kissed for what had almost felt like a full minute before they were interrupted.

"Angel!" a familiar voice said.

Buffy pulled away to see that Cordelia and Giles had arrived as well. Spike, and Laibach who was still in Drusilla's body, stood nearby. All of them looked up in the same direction, a distraught look on their faces.

Willow felt her powers slipping away from her. Her head was pounding like crazy and the room felt like it was spinning. She wanted to heave, but she didn't even have the energy that it would take to even do that. Tara's grip hardened. She could feel her becoming more powerful. The words coming out harsher than before. Soon everything began to become faint. Tara's voice was pulling away from her. She took her last ounce of energy to try and speak.

"Tara…"

Tara's grip slipped as Willow fell out cold.

Giles gaped in awe as Willow's body went limp, and Tara suddenly convulsed and rose from the ground. Giles looked into her deep yellow eyes. It was Tara's body standing there, but no ounce of her identity could be seen. What Giles could see was evil. It was Laibach. They had all been tricked. Laibach spoke from Tara's lips in a raspy chant using a language Giles wasn't all too familiar with. But Angel, Drusilla, and Spike looked on as if they understood. Laibach finished off the rest of the chant, and a huge crackle of energy rippled above the Hellmouth. What appeared to be a rip in the atmosphere tore open, exposing complete darkness inside. Energy continued to crackle from the opening. Angel, Buffy, and the others, hung back from the portal, weary of any creature from this dark reality to come out. Their attention was diverted back to Laibach as he began to speak in the dark language.

_Areme rhuta lsapa cleotte sjhusa. Suida olete hurpso lokete opededas kitgsha nuime cnesa._

"His reality is now ready to merge with ours, to form one. He is now able to roam free in the birth of this new world." Angel translated.

Tara screamed out in pain. Her mouth opened, and out poured a void of darkness. The darkness formed a shadow in the form of a figure, at least a good seven feet tall. Millions of tiny gnats and flies expelled from her mouth and formed around the tall shadow. The bugs began to melt into each other, forming into a huge beast. The void disappeared and Tara fell to the ground, unmoving as she lay there next to the limp form of Willow. There stood Laibach, in all his glory. He stood a good seven feet tall, easily. Large spikes were protruding from his huge thighs, his large chest, and his broad shoulders, penetrating his tough, crimson-colored skin. He glared at them with menacing, yellow eyes, similar to the ones Tara had while he took over her body. Two large horns protruded from his otherwise bald crimson head. They curved pointing up, similar to a bull. Two smaller horns were formed behind the much larger ones, curving underneath them and pointed towards the side. Rows of large sharp teeth could be seen from his lipless mouth as he continued to glare at them.

No one dared move. They could feel the power radiating from his huge body. They knew they wouldn't be able to take him on, even with their strong number. Laibach raised one huge hand, and everyone tensed up. More darkness expelled from his hands, forming a deep void in the center of the library. He walked up to it, and disappeared, the void disappearing with him.

For a long while, no one spoke. They stood there in awed silence. Unable to comprehend what was going on. The silence was broken off by a long insane giggle from Drusilla. She began jumping up and down in a kid-like fashion.

"They're here! They're here! The party has begun! I must go look my best! I don't want to appear rude to my guests."

Drusilla waltzed away off into the night, all the while laughing in pure joy. Nobody made a move to stop her. They all stood there for another second in complete silence. It was Fred's turn to break it.

"Now what?" she asked.

Everyone took a deep breath, asking there selves the same question.

"We go back, I guess." Giles said tiredly. "Decide on what to do next. Figure some things out."

"What about the portal?" Angel asked. "Creatures should be coming out in any second. Some we couldn't even imagine in our wildest dreams. Shouldn't we be here to stop them?"

"It would be fruitless." Giles answered. "The amount of creatures that would come out of this portal would be endless. We would be fighting for hours, given we survive that long. Our best bet is to get Willow and Tara and rendezvous back to come up with a plan. We'll find out a way to destroy Laibach and close the portal. Meanwhile, we will try our best to keep the casualties to a minimum. I know this is putting many lives at risk, but right now it is our only option."

Up above, the portal began to crackle with more energy.

"Giles is right." Buffy spoke up. "Let's get out of here before they start showing up."

"I don't like it, Buffy." Angel said, facing her. "I say we stay here and fight whatever this dimension has in store for us."

"And then what? Keep fighting till there's none of us left, and allow them all to roam free without any of us left to fight? At least if we go now, we'll be able to come up with a better plan to stop all this and keep them from spreading too far. We have to get out of here, Angel. I'm not enjoying this either, but what else are we gonna do?"

Angel stared back at her, unable to form a legitimate response. She and Giles were right.

"I'm on your territory. It's your call."

"Can we please quit with all the bleedin' drama and get the hell out of here?" Spike whined.

Buffy turned her glance from Angel to face the others.

"Let's get them out of here. See if we can get them both to a hospital."

Spike, Angel, and Giles went over to retrieve Willow and Tara. Fred and Cordelia headed out for the car. Buffy walked together towards the exit, watching the portal as it continued to crackle. Giles and Spike strayed not too far behind.

As they each loaded up in Giles and Angel's car, they could hear various inhuman screams and moans coming from the ruins of Sunnydale High.


	5. Reign of Batal

LOS ANGELES

Gunn sat on the driver's side of his truck, his left arm resting on the door, bored to tears. Wesley was sitting next to him, looking equally enthusiastic. An hour ago, Lorne showed back up in the hotel and told them about a human at the Caritas that had came up to perform. Lorne read him and found out that the guy was involved with a group of vampires. He and a couple co-workers at the hospital were selling blood to the vampires for cash. Since there wasn't much going on after the big Laibach/Drusilla incident, he and Wesley agreed to do something about it. Plus he needed to keep his mind off the throbbing pain in the back of his head. He took a couple pain killers, and it had died down a lot since psycho super-bitch tried to take him out, but being cooped up in the hotel all night worrying about how the rest of the gang were holding up in Sunnydale wasn't helping much.

_Especially with Fred out there._

"How do you think it's going out there?" he asked Wesley.

"I don't have a clue. Angel hasn't called yet. I'm sure if it is something big he would let me know. He's probably all tied up right now being with Buffy and all."

Gunn chuckled.

"You got that right. Angel sure has been acting strange since he came back from seeing her last time, after finding out she was alive. I haven't seen him act like that since Darla…"

"Shh…" Wesley said quietly, putting his finger up.

Gunn remained quiet and concentrated ahead. An ambulance was pulling up slowly, stopping a good fifteen yards away from them. Two men dressed in green hospital garbs stepped out. Four vampires suddenly came out from behind a small alley behind the truck. Two of them approached one guy. They exchanged a few words, Gunn and Wesley unable to hear as they remained silent in the truck, hidden in the darkness. The first guy finished talking and signaled for the other man to open the back.

Gunn and Wesley watched intently, silently planning their first move. A loud ring sounded from somewhere in the car, catching them both off guard. Gunn jumped in his seat, elbow banging into the car horn. The horn blared in the wide alley, alarming the four vampires and their human cohorts. The two guys got startled and ran back into the ambulance. The truck took off, dropping bags of blood on ground.

The vampire glared at them, well aware of their presence.

"Damn." Gunn said, exasperated. He turned to Wesley. "I guess that means we fight, huh?"

"Precisely."

Wesley grabbed his crossbow and stepped out the car. Gunn followed suit.

The four vampires started running towards them. Wesley aimed and fired at the first. The vamp stared down at its chest in surprise as it dusted. Gunn fired a bolt as well, dusting the second one in lead. A third vampire busted from the ashes of the previous one. He grabbed Gunn's shoulders roughly and bared his fangs.

"Damn yo breath is kickin!"

Gunn shoved the vampire off of him and smacked him across the face with the bow. The vampire gripped his face and doubled over. Gunn took this opportunity to take out his stake and drive it home. He wiped the dust off his clothes and glanced over just in time to see Wesley finish off the last vamp with the stake that came out of his right sleeve. Wesley dusted himself off and took a deep breath.

"I needed that." Gunn said, breathlessly.

Wesley nodded. He reached into his pocket and took out his phone.

"Hmm, Angel called."

"He couldn't of picked a better time." Gunn replied sarcastically.

Wesley dialed his number back.

"Wesley?" Angel said, picking up.

"Angel. Is everything all right out there?"

"…Not really. We kinda got a problem out here. Laibach tricked us. Drusilla really wasn't possessed. She probably just came out here to destroy the Tedarke talisman to _help _Laibach. He was really possessing a girl named Tara, one of Buffy's friends."

"Oh dear…Did you manage to stop him?"

"No. I wasn't able to make it on time. Buffy and the others got there before us, but they were distracted by Dru. The portal is open. It's about to get ugly out here, Wes."

"What do you suppose you do about it? Do you need help?"

"Probably. Me and Buffy could probably do some damage. Also, Spike out of all people…But I don't know if that's enough or not. Willow would be great help but she's not able to. Laibach drained all the magick out of her. I'm in the hospital with Buffy and Giles now. We might need one more fighter just in case."

"I'll send one of us down. Don't worry, Angel. We'll help take care of it."

Wesley hung up. He knew just the person.

SUNNYDALE

Angel hung up the phone. He turned to Buffy to see her waiting patiently.

"Wesley called back. He's on his way out here. If not, he'll just send Gunn out."

"Great." Buffy said with a small smile. "We'll probably need all the help we can get."

"Are you sure, Angel?" Giles asked. "With the addition of you, Cordelia, and Winifred, the group is already quite large."

"True, but we have no idea how big this thing is gonna get. Sure when things get ugly, we have all of us…as well as Spike…but one more person won't hurt."

"I suppose." Giles replied thoughtfully.

Xander walked into the room to see Buffy, Giles, and Angel standing nearby. Willow and Tara were in separate cots, side by side.

"Xander." Buffy said, turning her attention from Giles.

"I rushed here as soon as you called." He turned over to see the two of them laying sound. "Are they gonna be okay?"

Angel spoke up.

"The doctor said Willow would be okay. She should be able to go home later on today. She's just resting right now…they're not sure about Tara. She's in bad condition. They don't know when she's gonna wake up."

Xander let the sea of mixed emotions sink in. He cared desperately for both, especially Willow, who he had known practically his entire life. He was still worried about her, but he was glad she was going to be okay. Hopefully Tara would be okay as well. She was a valuable part of the group. She kept to herself most of the time, but there was something about her that lightened up the mood for everyone, especially for Willow. Tara was her whole world. She had stepped in and aided Willow when she had been hurting the most, something him and the rest of the group unfortunately didn't really do for her. Over the years, the two of them had become closer. There wasn't a time you would see Will without her unless it was something serious. Xander didn't want to imagine the pain Willow would go through if they lost her…the pain they would all go through.

"Where's Dawn?" Buffy asked quietly, obviously feeling what he was at the moment, but eager not to let it show.

"She's out in the lobby with Anya. She would have come in but you know how strict nurses are with visitors, no matter how serious the situation is."

Buffy nodded in agreement. Xander went over to check on Willow. Giles headed for the door, motioning for Buffy and Angel to follow. They left the room quietly, allowing Xander to have some quiet time.

"I-I don't mean to be troublesome, particularly while a couple of our own are in such a condition, but we have a portal to a hell dimension to worry about."

"And I know that." Buffy said, exasperated. "But we're going on a limb here. We don't even know how to stop Laibach, let alone this portal."

"We're working on it." Giles said. "Cordelia and Winifred are already at the Magic Box researching."

"What about Willow?" Angel asked. "I don't know much about this hell dimension, but I'm pretty sure in order to close it, it's gonna take some pretty strong magick."

"I-I'm not sure myself, under her current condition. We'll have to wait till she's better. It shouldn't be much longer."

"Somebody has to stay with her." Buffy said.

"I will." Xander said, coming out of the room. "Gives me a better excuse to call in a day off from work, other than a hell dimension is bleeding into our quaint little town. I've pretty much used that one up already."

Footsteps sounded in the empty hallway. The three of them focused their attention from Xander to see Dawn and Anya coming up.

"Next time, Xander, you're on teen watch duty." Anya said, exasperated. "This girl pisses more than my cocker spaniel. Go ahead, I would say, get lost in the hospital so I won't have to worry about her anymore. But no, I have to play babysitter and follow her to the bathroom every time to make sure she doesn't get lost and become some mad doctor's lab rat."

"You know, Anya. You didn't have to follow her every time." Buffy said. "I'm sure the she's capable of going down the hall by herself."

"Now she tells me." Anya sighed.

"You had a cocker spaniel?" Xander asked.

"Well, he wasn't really mine...at first. He belonged to this wealthy landowner in the early 20s. His wife caught him cheating and I choked him to death with his own guts and burned down his estate. I got to keep his dog though, he was just so cute. D'Hoffryn wouldn't let me keep him, though. So I sold him to this friendly butcher guy in South Korea."

Everyone stood in silence, not knowing how to reply to another one of Anya's stories. Dawn decided to change the subject.

"So, how are they?" she asked.

"Willow is okay. No word on Tara as of yet. They need to run more tests on her. Hopefully everything will turn out well for her as well." Giles answered.

"Anya and Dawn should stay here with me to watch over." Xander said. "Not like we would be much of a threat out there against the extra-dimensional nasties."

"Sounds like a plan." Buffy said.

"I'll go call up the rest of the group to see how they're faring." Giles said.

Dawn, Xander, and Anya went into the room to see Willow and Tara. Giles went out to the lobby to use the payphone. Buffy and Angel stayed out in the hall, facing each other. There was a long, uncomfortable silence between them.

"Here we are again, huh?" Buffy said. "I guess it takes a huge apocalypse in order for us to continue seeing each other."

"Or one of us dying." Angel added. Buffy chuckled mirthlessly.

"Yeah I guess so."

There was another long period of silence. Angel sighed.

"You don't know how that felt to know that you were gone."

"Yes I do. I went through with the same thing with you. Only it was me who killed you. We've had this talk before, Angel. You stopped by not too long ago after you got the news that Willow brought me back."

"I know. It just still hurts sometimes."

"It's time to get over it. Here I am, alive and kicking. Literally. I understand what you had to go through, but that's past now and its time to let it go. Tonight I need you to be strong. No more sad, broody Angel. We can talk about our problems after this is all said and done. We have a bigger problem to worry about."

Angel nodded, understanding. Buffy gave him a warm smile. He smiled back at her. The two of them cherished the small moment between each other. The longing for her became overwhelming. Angel almost regretted leaving her a while ago, but he knew he made the right choice. As much as he loved her, it would have never worked if they decided to stay together. Plus, he had the team back in L.A now and she seemed to be faring well on her own. He just hoped nothing like that ever happened to her again. Angel looked down at his watch to see that it read 1:47am.

"Let's get out of here. The sun will be up in up several hours and we got a lot of business to take care of." Angel said.

"I'm way ahead of you."

They both walked down the hospital, hands linked. They found Giles in the lobby, looking out the window, confused. Buffy let go of Angel and walked up to see what he was looking at. She didn't see anything out the ordinary.

"Giles, what is it?"

Giles looked back at her in dismay.

"Where are the stars?"

---

Laibach roamed the streets of the town known as Sunnydale. He was familiar with it, after inheriting the young Wiccan's memories after he took over her. She was a strong witch, Laibach felt her power. But, she wasn't as strong as the other one. The one by the name of Willow. He wished he could have taken her instead. But it was not necessary since he was already able to draw her power away from her, make it his. All he had to do was use the trust she had in her lover and convince her to offer her power to him. The power that surged through him now was overwhelming. He was probably the most powerful demon to roam the earth. He no longer had to worry about being under the power of the Tedarke in his home in Batal. After most of the human race is finally wiped out during the merge, he would rule all of it.

He should have known getting the vampire Drusilla involved was a risk. After he escaped his dimension, he was left suspended in the earth's air, unable to form solidity. He took this advantage by contacting Drusilla. All he had to do was to bribe her with power. He lent her strength so she was able to locate the Tedarke talisman which was in possession of the vampire with a soul, whom she had a past with, and destroy it. To throw them all off even more, Laibach placed a glamour spell on Drusilla to make it seem as if she had his essence in her. After she agreed, Laibach was able to tap into Tara, who was foolishly using magick at the time, and use her to gain quick access to the Hellmouth while the vampire, the Slayer, and all their friends went after Drusilla. Getting them all involved was a risk, but still he was able to succeed.

Laibach faced the sky and drew out the dark essence from the gate above the Hellmouth. The daylight was inevitable, but he had a plan. He used the borrowed power from the witch and drew out the darkness from his homeland to cover the sky. The tiny dots in the sky disappeared one by one as the sky was blanketed in permanent darkness. His children should be coming out soon. They strived in Batal, where the sun was inexistent. The world was nothing but darkness.

The first step in the merge between Earth and Batal was to cover the world in darkness so they can roam. It would start from Sunnydale, then make its way all over the nation, before blanketing the entire world in darkness were his children could reign.

He would decide to go after the Slayer and her friends, but they were no longer a threat. Not without their most powerful Wiccan out of commission. The amount of demons that would start to come out would overpower them.

Laibach watched in the darkness as the first of his children slithered towards a young teenage girl and bit her throat out, cutting her scream nothing short of a helpless gurgle before it reached its peak. It was starting.

---

_There's a nail in the door and there's glass on the lawn. Tacks on the floor and the TV is on._

Aaron Bates stared helplessly at the dance floor of The Bronze as Shivaree performed "Goodnight Moon" on stage.

_And I always sleep with my guns when you're gone._

He watched as Margaret Figueroa danced seductively with Darryl Miles. The three of them were students at UC Sunnydale. Aaron and Darryl were teammates for the school's football team.

_There's a blade by the bed and a phone in my hand._

He had known Margaret from sitting by her in General Biology class. They had both been lab partners. Margaret had transferred here from Cal State Hayward to get her degree in Biology. She was originally from New York, though born in Puerto Rico. Aaron could tell that from her beautiful caramel-colored skin and long, curly hair that went down to her waist.

_A dog on the floor and some cash on the nightstand. When I'm all alone the dreaming stops and I just can't stand._

As much as he wanted to ask her out, he knew that she was already taken. She was going out with his teammate Darryl Miles. The two of them grew close and started dating not too long ago, which lowered any chances of him getting in the picture. Margaret had in fact invited him to The Bronze tonight, and like a fool, he agreed to come, unaware that she was bringing Darryl along as well. Now here he was by himself, watching the two of them get close while he sipped on his Sprite which was probably flat by now.

_What should I do I'm just a little baby. What if the lights go out and maybe. And then the wind just starts to moan. Outside the door he followed me home_.

He stared down at his warm Sprite, wishing he was anywhere but here. He got lost in the clear liquid, picturing Darryl squirming helplessly inside, wide-eyed and gasping as he drowned in the carbonated fluid. He smiled a bit at the thought.

_Well goodnight moon, I want the sun. If it's not here soon I might be done. No it won't be too soon 'til I say goodnight moon_.

A loud scream echoed through the club, heard over the lead singer as she wrapped up the first chorus. Aaron looked up, snapped out his thoughts. Down below, a crowd of people were spreading to avoid a group of strange-looking creatures as they came in through the windows and entrance. They had small spikes protruding from their knees and shoulders, and long sharp claws on their hands and feet that raked across the floor as they crawled on all fours.

He saw the fear planted on Margaret's face as she watched what unfolded before her. Darryl looked around, the same expression on his face. Aaron heard a loud shriek, when suddenly one of the creatures leaped up and pounced on top of Darryl. He screamed as the thing bit into him.

The crowd on the balcony began to panic and started running for the stairs. Aaron followed, desperate to get to Margaret. He hurried down the steps after the panicked crowd. Someone pushed him from behind and he fell forward. He fell the rest of the way down, smashing his skull on the hard floor at the bottom. His vision began to blur. He glanced over slowly to see one of the creatures make its way over to Margaret. It grabbed her with its sharp talons and opened its mouth towards her throat. She tried to fight back but it was too strong. Aaron watched helplessly as it bit into her left shoulder. She screamed out in pain as it continued to chomp down on her. Another one came up to her other side and bit into the right side of her neck. Her scream was cut short and her eyes went blank as her body gave in to the creatures. Aaron last saw her blank stare before feeling the sharp pain as one of the other creatures skittered towards him and ripped into his abdomen.

---

Don cut off the bathroom lights and slipped quietly into the dark bedroom, and into the bed next to his lovely wife, Grace. She laid quietly, her back to him. Don knew she wasn't really asleep. He wrapped his arms around her waist and moved closer. He buried his face in her long brown hair, the scent of her lavender shampoo invading his nostrils.

He felt a sense of cold resentment as she pushed his arms away from her. He sighed and sat up in bed, turning the lamp on.

"Don't tell me you're still angry at me." He said exasperated. Grace sat up to face him.

"It's not that I'm still angry. It's just that I'm not sure if I want to do anything just yet. How do I know you're still not thinking about her?"

"Honey, I told you, that was a long time ago. We were in high school. I'm over her now."

"That's not the way it seems. You should have seen how you two were looking at each other."

"That still doesn't mean anything. We were just two old high school friends that had happened to run into each other at the grocery store. Yeah we used to have a thing for each other but that was then. I have you now, and that's…"

"Did you hear that?" Grace asked, cutting him off.

"Hear what?" Don asked, trying not to sound annoyed from her cutting him off when he was trying to break the wall between them.

"It sounded like a banging coming from downstairs…like somebody trying to get in."

Don listened. He could hear it too. A series of faint thumps sounded from downstairs.

"What do you think it could be?" Grace asked.

He couldn't figure it. They didn't have a dog or a cat. Sandra was spending the night at her friend's house so it couldn't be her.

"Maybe it's the police, or one of the neighbors coming over for an emergency. I'll go check it out."

Grace nodded worriedly.

"Take something down with you just in case."

Don nodded and got out of bed. He went into the closet and pulled out a metal steering wheel lock. Holding it like a bat, he went out of the room, closing the door behind him, and went down the dark hallway to the stairs. He crept slowly down the steps. The banging continued, growing louder. He made it down to the kitchen and looked around. He noticed the noise wasn't coming from the front door or the door in the kitchen. It was coming from the basement.

He cut on the kitchen light and headed for the basement, weapon in hand. The pounding continued. He grabbed the door handle, and slowly opened the door. He took a peek inside to find nothing. Then suddenly, something leaped at his face. He yelled and fell back, trying desperately to claw the small, moist creature off his face. The creature latched on to a big chunk of his left cheek with its small razor-sharp fangs. He got a good grasp on it and flung it off, taking off a large portion of his cheek. Don held on to his face, blood gushing from the open wound. He looked up to get a good look at the creature. It had the face of a baby, only it had a mouthful of tiny sharp fangs and white, pupil-less eyes. The rest of its body was similar to that of a child as well, only it didn't have any legs. Instead, its body ended to form a curved tail. Two small arms protruded from its body, reaching towards him. Its whole body was a slimy, pink fleshy color. Like skin turned inside out. The thing that truly baffled Don was the way that it seemed to _float_. Its body was hovering above the ground.

The creature lunged for him again. Don swung the metal wheel lock towards it. The creature ducked under the swing and was on him. It stuck its tail out towards him and shoved it into his mouth. Don gagged as the creature began to shove the rest of its body in his mouth, making its way down his throat. He saw as its head mushed together like a sponge as it went in. He held on to his throat and gasped desperately for air. He fell onto the cold ceramic tile of the kitchen floor, and everything went dark.

Grace heard a loud scream followed by an inhuman shrill come from downstairs shortly after Don went down to check on the noise. She grabbed the phone and dialed 9-1-1. Her ear was met with the sound of a busy signal on the other line. She hung up and dialed again. The busy signal sounded again. She threw the phone down in frustration. She heard her husband scream again, as well as a series of high-pitched shrills. Should she go check on him?

She listened again. She heard a loud gagging sound, like Don was choking on something. She jumped out of bed and listened again before proceeding. The gagging suddenly stopped. All was quiet for another ten seconds or so, then she heard what sounded like a wet crunching noise. Her heart began racing. She didn't know what was going on down or what she should do. Was her husband dead? Did he fight off what ever was going on down there? Should she help him? Should she stay out of the way?

She sat there in the middle of the room, listening quietly. Footsteps were coming from downstairs. They were heading towards the stairs. Grace's heart began to pound faster as the footsteps came upstairs. She jumped back into the bed, pulling the sheets over half her face and watching intently, in hopes that it was Don coming back up from chasing off a rodent or a stray cat or raccoon that got into the house.

The footsteps sounded down the hallway, and the door swung open. Out of all the worst case scenarios that ran through her head through the whole ordeal, she wasn't prepared for what she saw. Standing in the doorway, was Don…only his face seemed like it was peeled off. He stared back at her with chalk-white eyes and wide, grinning teeth, except instead of teeth they were fangs. His whole face was a pink, slimy, fleshy color. Grace screamed at the top of her lungs as the monster in her husband's pajamas came after her. She jumped out of bed just as it landed on top of it, arms stretched as if it was ready to rip her throat out with its bare hands. She ran down the hallway in a blind panic and down the stairs. She ran past the kitchen and to the front door. She could hear the monster coming after her. She swung the door open and screamed as she saw a white-haired, pale man standing on her front porch.

Spike was making his way back over to the Magic Box to meet up with Buffy and the others when he heard a loud scream coming from someone's house. He ran over there just as a short, middle-aged brunette opened the front door, her eyes as big as tennis balls.

"Is everything all right?" he asked the frightened woman.

"In there!" she pointed inside the house.

"Bloody hell…"

Inside was a man in blue and white pajamas with a pink, flesh-colored face with grinning fangs. Spike heard about these buggers before through stories, but he never knew they actually existed. The woman pushing him towards the thing was the only invitation he needed. The demon came after him, and Spike greeted him with a hard punch to the throat. The demon shrilled and reared back from the blow. It shook it off and came back in. It swung its fist towards him. Spike dodged each blow and grabbed the demon by its shoulders, bringing his knee up and into its gut. The demon doubled over and slipped on the floor, landing on its stomach.

Spike saw a glimmer and glanced over to see a metal steering wheel lock sitting on the floor right next to a door which he guessed led to the basement. He went over and snatched it up. He turned around in time to see the demon stand up and come back for him. Spike swung the metal stick up and into its face. The demon flew up and landed back on the tile on the back of his head. If the stories were true, it was a human once, but Spike had no choice but to kill it. Whoever the unlucky sod was, he was already dead now. When a Daemite goes after its victim, it shoves its soft, boneless body into the victim's mouth and down its throat. With it tail, it pierces through the victims stomach and taps into his nervous system. It liquefies the victims head, ingesting it into is body and replacing the head with its own. The whole process was a bloody mess. Spike always wanted to see that happen. Drusilla would have loved it. But it was a bleedin' fairytale.

_At least until Laibach showed up._

Spike swung the stick into the demon's face. The impact cracked its skull open. Blood spurted all over the walls and tiles. The demon let out one last shrill of pain, before it went limp.

Spike dropped the lock on the ground right next to it. The hysterical woman ran up to the body and began sobbing uncontrollably. It was no doubt this was once her husband. Spike watched as she held onto his hand and continued crying. Spike decided to say something to help the uneasiness he was feeling from watching the scene.

"I'm…um…sorry for your loss."

Pathetic. Spike sighed and decided to leave them here. There was nothing else he could do here. He had to get back to Buffy and everyone else. The portal was opening and from the looks of things, Laibach's friends were beginning to come out. There was no other reason a lone Daemite would be spotted in the middle of Sunnydale. They didn't exist in this realm. He had to get Buffy, Giles, and Angel rallied up before it got any worse.


	6. Go Team

The "Welcome to Sunnydale" sign whizzed by the dark tinted windows. Lilah thought she would never get there. They had been on the road for about two and a half hours and there was no sign of the host. She was sure Angel had already beaten her there. She had gotten tied up back in the office trying to convince the firm to lend her more men for this mission. She also had to get the little weasel Gavin off her back. She just hoped and prayed that Laibach was still hanging around and that Angel and that blonde Slayer bitch she had heard so much about hadn't already found a way to subdue him. There was also the nagging possibility that Laibach would refuse her offer and snap her neck. But that wasn't going to happen. She had failed getting to Laibach back in Los Angeles, but she wasn't going to fail again.

Her radio beeped. It was Logan, the leader of the team she had brought down here.

"We've made it into the city limits. It's beginning to look a mess out here. The sky seems to be a lot darker over here, and we've seen a couple of abnormal creatures moving about. Over."

"Do you see any sign of the host Drusilla, or anything resembling the presence of Laibach? Over."

"No ma'am. But we did see some…oh my god…"

BAM!

Lilah jumped at the loud sound on the other end of the transmission. It sounded like something rammed into the truck. Lilah heard men screaming on the other line. The transmission suddenly went dead. Lilah signaled for the driver to move faster, and the truck raced through the dark streets of Sunnydale.

The truck came to a sudden stop, and Lilah gaped in awe at what she was seeing. A giant beast was standing in the middle of the street, right next to a battered truck. It was about twice the size of an elephant. It had sickly, green skin, and huge, curved horns on its huge, rhino-shaped head.

The beast paid Lilah's vehicle no mind, and continued to batter the one in front of it. The beast gave one hard hit which caused the truck to tip over on its side. A man fell out of the passenger side and onto the pavement. The man screamed out as the beast backed up and came in for another blow. The tipped truck skidded off the side of the road, dragging the man along the cement.

Two more trucks pulled up on the side of her, and several men jumped out. They each held up M16s and began firing. The beast gave a ferocious bellow and began to give in to the gunfire. It fell onto its front legs, let out a final moan, then fell over on its side.

Silence. Lilah let out a sigh of relief. There was no doubt in her mind that the man was dead, squashed underneath the overturned truck.

_And if he is still alive, he sure won't be too much longer._

Lilah was no expert in demonology, but she could tell that monster wasn't from this dimension. She rolled over in her mind the possibility that she was too late. That maybe Laibach was able to open up the portal to his dimension, Batal, and begin Hell-on-Earth. She cursed at the thought of fighting through all those monsters just to get to Laibach. Plus, she wasn't even sure Laibach would take her proposal. If he was starting an apocalypse, what would Wolfram & Hart have to offer to him that he couldn't get himself? She thought about turning around. Let Sunnydale fall to the beast. Hopefully Angel and his friends would die in the process. She then thought about returning empty handed, once again failing to please the Senior Partners. There was no doubt that Gavin would never let her forget it. Plus, after all her mistakes in the past, there was no telling what the Senior Partners would do to her.

A series of inhuman shrieks sounded up ahead. Lilah looked ahead to see a barricade of demons making their way in their direction. Her men opened fire as a large group of demons scurried through the streets. There were at least a dozen different monsters and at least six different species. A huge, troll-like demon smacked the gun out of a soldier's hands and swiftly broke his neck before the man could register that he was being attacked. Another man was impaled by the huge talons of a creepy-looking red demon with long fangs protruding from its lips, and long, sharp fingernails. All around her men and demons were dying. A demon made its way over to her, a disgusting, slimy looking fish thing with long fangs, when she raised her weapon, and fired, bullets burying into its soft flesh.

Lilah couldn't risk being killed. She jumped back into the truck and reached into her radio.

"Bring them all back in. We can't risk anymore casualties."

"Sure thing, ma'am. Are we heading back?"

"No. We still going in. We are not going back empty handed. For now on, no one gets out until we find the host."

"But…"

"Just do it."

---

"I gotta admit, looks like the old gang has something going for them here." Cordelia said as she walked around the shop, admiring all the strange items that were up on display. "I mean, sure its nice staying up in that grand hotel all the time, but this is nice and quaint. Plus hey, when the time comes for a spell, they got everything right here."

Fred nodded in agreement. The place was nice. There was a lot of interesting stuff around. So far the group seemed pretty nice. She didn't have time to formally introduce herself due to all the Laibach madness going on, but so far she was impressed. She wasn't in awe as much as Cordelia seemed to be, seeing that she never knew what the group was like before. Cordelia told her about the history she had out here in Sunnydale fighting demons with Angel and the Slayer and such. It was pretty interesting.

"It is nice." Fred replied.

"Tell me about it."

"Did they ever say when they were gonna get back? I pretty anxious about helping you all out with the research and things, but I don't know where to start." Fred asked.

"I don't know. Maybe they got caught up in some demon death match or something. They should be back soon…I hope."

Cordelia picked up a glass jar filled with small, ball-shaped objects surrounded in a green-colored liquid.

"What are these? They look disgusting."

Fred looked over for a sec, then glanced back to the crystal she was observing in her hand.

"Those are toad eyes. I saw those when we got in here."

Fred heard Cordelia make a disgusted sound, then a loud shatter as the jar slipped from her hands and broke on the floor.

"Geez, Cordelia, they're not that gross. You should see…"

Her voice trailed off as she saw Cordelia collapse on the floor, clutching her forehead.

"No you idiot! I'm having a vision!"

Fred ran over and knelt down, grabbing her hand and trying to help her up. A small bell sounded and Angel and Giles came rushing to Cordelia's aid.

"Buffy, get those two chairs!" Giles ordered.

Buffy ran up to the foyer to grab the two sofa chairs. She brought them to the middle of the floor and placed them together. Angel lifted Cordelia off the wet floor and brought her to the foyer, setting her down in the chairs so her head rested on one side while her legs spread out to rest on the other. Giles came over with a blanket and placed it over her.

Cordelia continued to squirm, tears gushing from her eyes as she cried out in pain. Angel knelt down over her and grabbed her flailing arms.

"Cordelia! Calm down! Please! It's gonna be okay."

Her movements began to slow up a bit, and Angel's voice began to soften.

"It's okay, Cordelia. I'm here."

She stopped moving. Her hands began trembling in Angel's grasps and she was taking deep heavy breaths.

Buffy came back in with a glass of water. She watched with a bit of jealousy as Angel stroked Cordy's cheek lightly, talking to her softly. She could feel the bond that the two of them shared. And as much as she wanted to get over Angel, it hurt a little to see this. She swallowed and brought the glass over, setting it on the table.

Cordelia gazed up at Angel, the pain showing in her eyes.

"Angel. It's too much…Too much at one time."

"It's okay, Cordelia. Too much of what?" he asked.

"So much suffering…so much death. They're out there, Angel. The monsters…they're here. They're killing everyone. I can see them attacking…oh god, so much pain."

Angel looked up at Buffy with a warning glance. Buffy looked back at him.

"It's started." He said.

"I know. We have to go out there. We have to keep them all at bay, save as many people as we can."

"I don't mean to be much of a bother, but how do you expect to do it?" Fred asked.

"I don't know." Buffy replied, thoughtfully. "We've been sitting around for too long though. People are out there dying. We were just so wrapped up worrying about Willow and Tara we didn't think about what could be going on…Oh god, I feel so selfish."

"I'll stay here, Buffy." Giles said. "I'll start research on Laibach and see if I can come up with anything. Xander should be calling here in a bit to update us on the conditions of Willow and Tara, and someone needs to be here to answer."

"I'm coming with you, Buffy." Angel said. Buffy nodded.

"Winifred, would you mind staying here to help me?" Giles asked the frail girl.

"Sure. I-I mean, I can't do much out there. If you need any help with computer stuff I'm pretty good at that."

"Great. Let's get a move on then." Angel said.

Buffy came up and handed him his sword and a couple stakes, keeping a crossbow, an axe, and a couple other stakes for herself. Angel took the weapons and turned towards Giles.

"Take care of her." He said.

"Of, course."

Buffy and Angel headed for the door when it suddenly flew open. Spike came in, looking all bruised up.

"Were have you all been? All the fun is out there. A flock of nasties have already came out of the portal and puttin' up a hell of a fight with the locals while you all were sitting around braidin' each other's hair."

"We got the memo, Spike. Arm up, we're going out there."

Buffy and Angel walked past him, Angel bumping his shoulder roughly. Spike turned towards the street.

"Oh…alrighty then. Let's go team!"

---

Eric Young cruised slowly down the dark streets, trying his best to clear his head over what just happened. He had got off late from work, wanting nothing more than to climb into the warm bed with his beautiful wife, Ellie. When he opened the front door to his house, he saw that the living room was a mess. The table was on its side, and there was broken glass all over the place. A draft was coming from somewhere. He noticed the window was completely shattered.

_Oh God, I hope Ellie is alright._

He went to the gun case and realized that whoever had broken in didn't bother to grab a weapon from the case. He grabbed his favorite weapon, a Browning 12 gauge shotgun. He loaded the weapon and walked slowly towards the upstairs bedroom. All the other rooms were just as ransacked, although nothing appeared to be missing.

He walked slowly upstairs, and down the short hallway to the bedroom door. He waited outside and listened. He could hear a weird breathing sound coming from the other side. He took a deep breath, and threw the door open, shotgun aimed. Staring back at him, was the most jacked up thing he had ever seen in his life. Its crimson skin gleamed from the moonlight seeping through the windows. It looked up at him with a long, toothy grin, blood oozing down its lips. It had long pointy ears and a smooth, bald head. In its hands, was the limp form of his dear Ellie. A gaping wound on the side of her throat. Her blank stare glared back at him, helpless.

Eric screamed in rage and fired the shotgun into the monster's face. The thing shrieked and fell backwards onto the bed. Eric shot the gun once more for good measure. The creature lay still on the bed, face blown to hell. Its wide grin still planted on the mass of bloody flesh.

Eric dropped the shotgun, and ran to his wife's corpse. He held her tight, and began to cry. He must of stayed there in the middle of the room with her for what felt like a full hour before he put himself together. He laid her body peacefully on the carpet, then walked sullenly towards the front door, taking his shotgun with him. He needed to clear his head before doing anything. He jumped into his truck and drove it around town. He was in awe at the things he saw going around. Some kind of ghastly invasion was taking place. Every once in an awhile he would see various monsters running, flying, scurrying, you name it, after helpless victims in Sunnydale.

_One of those bastards killed Ellie._

Something caught his eye on the right side of the street. A pale brunette was walking by herself on the sidewalk. She was wearing a long, red dress. Her long black hair went down to her chest. Eric slowed the car up, driving along side of her. She seemed to pay him no mind as she continued to gaze ahead of her.

"Hey. I don't think it's safe for you to be walking out around this time of night. Do you need a ride?"

The woman continued to ignore him. Walking, almost gliding down the sidewalk, oblivious to his presence. He stopped the car and got out. He walked over to the sidewalk to stop her. He touched her shoulder gently, trying his best not to alarm her, let her know that he meant her no harm. The woman stopped and turned towards him. She stared back at him with beautiful large green eyes. Her stare seemed to look right through him. Like she could read his soul, able to tell the pain that he was experiencing.

"Ma'am, I don't think you should be out here by yourself. There's something really strange going on in this town. I should take you home."

"I don't want to go home. This place is filled with lots of delicious sweets and goodies. And the little girls are all crying because the cupboard is all empty." The lady replied with in a sweet British accent.

He stared back at her confused. Obviously there was something wrong with her. He had to think twice about taking her with him. But the thought of her standing out here helpless to those monsters was a lot worse.

"Look, lady, I don't know what your talking about, but we need to get out of here. Do you want to come with me or not?"

The features on her face hardened. She looked back at him like she was hurt by his words. His heart skipped a beat and he began to regret using that tone.

"Look into my eyes." She replied quietly.

It seemed as if those words cut him off from any outside thoughts. He found himself unable to concentrate on nothing but her face. It wasn't until then that he realized how beautiful she was. With her long, ebony-colored hair and smooth milky skin. And those eyes. Those eyes like pools of liquid emerald.

Drusilla began to sway back and forth softly, Eric following her every move. She had him in a trance. She could smell his hot blood radiating from his skin. Drusilla let her face transform into her pure vampire form. She moved close to his face, and bit into his lip. The man screamed in pain as the hot blood oozed into her mouth. The man pushed her away and turned to run away. She gained her balanced and went after him, longing for more blood. She caught up to him and wrapped her arm around his throat. She brought her face up to his neck and dug her fangs into him. The man screamed out once more. The feel of blood oozing down her waiting throat excited her, and she squeezed tighter around his throat. The man began to gasp desperately for air as she continued to suck him dry. She got lost in the coppery taste and squeezed tighter. A loud crack sounded in his neck, and his body went limp.

Drusilla let him drop to the cement, and she wiped the blood off her lips. She licked her fingers and began to giggle at the pleasure of a life being taken at her hands. Watching humans scream and die at the hands of Laibach's demons had her longing for the kill. She threw her hands into the air and began to twirl in the cool air, all the while laughing insanely as the town began to slowly fall to Laibach's pets.


	7. Hidden Grudges

God, could this preacher go on for any longer?

_He thought as he glanced around the wide church. His family was sitting on the right side of the church, staring proudly at him in his black tux as he stood there nervously, palms sweating from the heat radiating off the gloved hands of his bride, Anya. Even Uncle Rory looked a little less drunk than usual. He could hear Spike give an annoyed sigh behind him, obviously as impatient as he was to get this thing over with. Cordelia stood behind Anya, picking idly at the small bouquet of flowers she held in her hands. Buffy let out a small sigh as well. _

"You may kiss the bride."

Finally!

_Xander reached for Anya's veil and lifted it up. He stared in shock at the veiny face of Anyanka as she smirked evilly at him. She snarled and pushed him back. She spun around and grabbed Cordelia, bringing her up front and holding on to her neck. Xander watched in horror as Anyanka twisted Cordy's neck. A sharp snap sounded from her neck and she fell limp._

Xander jerked from his sleep. His sudden movement caused Anya to stir as she rested her head on his shoulder. She moaned a little bit and positioned herself comfortably back on his shoulder. He looked over to his left to see Dawn curled up next to him, her head resting soundly on the arm of the couch. Apparently it was all a dream. They were still in the hospital. He risked a glance to look over at Willow and Tara's beds, careful not to disturb Anya. They were still out of it. He looked at his watch to notice that almost a few hours had passed since Buffy, Angel, and Giles had left. He thought about calling them to check up on things, but figured they were too busy.

He thought back to that strange dream. Cordelia's arrival back in Sunnydale bothered him more than he thought. Sure he was over her now, but what would Anya think? She hadn't said anything to him since she came, but somehow that made it worse.

Xander glanced up at the TV, staring idly at a rerun to _Full House_, when suddenly the news popped up.

_We bring you this special bulletin: A series of bizarre attacks have occurred here in Sunnydale in the past hour. People have reportedly seen only what they can describe as strange beasts attacking local civilians and wrecking havoc on the streets. One young girl by the name of Margaret Figueroa was found dead in The Bronze, one of the several other pronounced dead or badly injured. Each victim was found with either a gaping wound in their throat or abdomen, or long scratches along their bodies…_

"Oh God, those poor people." A familiar voice said from behind him.

Xander looked back to see Willow glancing shocked at the television, sitting up in her cot.

"Willow!" Xander said, getting up. Anya sat up and yawned, rubbing her eyes tiredly. Xander ran up to Willow and gave her a strong embrace.

"Um, I love you too Xander, but do you think I could get a little air? The room is spinning."

Xander released her.

"Sorry, just worried about you. How you feeling?"

"Well, like I said, the room is spinning. But I hear these days that the world is supposed to do that. I-I think I'll be okay."

"Will! You're okay!" Dawn said, getting up from the couch and running up to the bed. Anya followed behind, coming up on the other side next to Xander.

"Did you enjoy your nap? Cause I sure as hell enjoyed mine." Anya said. "I was dreaming about hot, steamy sex in the back seat of a movie theater. It was all fun until Xander started turning into a bunny rabbit. I saw a white fluffy tail come right out of his..."

"So! I guess I'll go call Giles and let him know that you're awake." Xander said, interrupting her.

"Where did they all go?" Willow asked.

"They went out to look for a way to stop Laibach." Dawn answered. "They told us to wait here, in case you woke up."

"Did they come up with anything yet?"

"Not that I know of," Xander answered. "No word from any of them yet. Buffy and Angel should probably be out there right now on demon population control. I don't know about Giles. He should be at the Magic Box looking it all up. If he's found anything, he would have called."

"Angel? Angel's here?" she asked.

"Yeah. He showed up right before you passed out when Tara…"

"Tara." Willow said, worriedly.

She stared at Tara's sound body lying in the cot next to her.

_Oh sweetie, what did I get you into?_

She remembered how Tara began to change during the spell to stop the portal. How her voice became hoarse and powerful, and how she seemed to suck the energy right out of her. She then remembered how sick Tara was after the spell she performed while she was away at the Magic Box, and how eager she seemed to be with doing another after she heard about Laibach. Laibach was in her the whole time. It was a crazy thought, but it was the only one that made since. Tara would have never resolved to magick as her first option, especially after the trouble she went through to prevent Willow from using it. She should've noticed it earlier.

She felt extreme guilt overcome her. Because of her, Tara was taken over. It was because of her stupidity and obsession with spells that allowed Laibach to take over Tara and control everything behind their backs. She allowed Laibach to trick her into actually participating in the spell. Laibach had used her magick to get the portal open. It was because of her people out there were dying. She was responsible for opening it. She had to do something. She wasn't going to sit her all morning and allow all of this to happen. She was going to have to make this all up to Tara, to the group, to the world.

"Xander, get my clothes. We're going to the Magic Box."

"Are you sure you're up to it? You don't look so good, Will. Maybe you should stay here."

"No. Tara is in a coma and the whole world is going to hell because of me. I have to do something."

"But Willow…"

"Remember my resolve face?" she said, pointing to her narrowed lips.

Xander sighed.

"Fine. I'll come with you."

"Then I'm coming too." Dawn said.

"No. Someone needs to stay here and watch over Tara. Anya will stay with you." Willow said.

"What? Why do I have to stay here? Do you know how _boring_ this is?"

She looked over at Xander for backup.

"Anya." He said.

Anya sighed.

"I'll go get more snacks." She said, sulking off to the vending machine.

---

The air around her suddenly fell silent. The sounds of Angel and Spike battling nearby soon became mute, her only concentration on her opponent.

_Wherever the hell he is._

Buffy saw a flash of neon orange as the demon suddenly appeared in front of her. She jabbed quickly, barely missing him as he disappeared again. She felt a sharp pain in the back of her head and she staggered forward. She spun around to see the demon vanish again.

"Hey! That wasn't fair!"

Buffy looked down to notice a slight shift in the grass. She jumped up and kicked at the air in front of her. She was rewarded with the solid feeling of her foot connecting with the demon's flesh. She heard the demon fall backwards and crash into a gravestone. Buffy brought the axe up and swung it in the large depression on the grass. The demon gave an inhuman scream and reappeared. It laid still, the axe buried in its chest.

"I win." Buffy smirked.

The demon leaped on top of him, giving him little time to react. It was a Hanoch. Angel remembered facing a group of them the last time Laibach made a guest appearance. The Hanoch bared its sharp fangs, reaching towards his throat. Angel could hear Spike struggling as another demon had its tentacles wrapped around his throat, attempting to break his neck. Buffy was in front of him fighting off a slimy jello-like demon. Behind the demon's head he could see her fists going through its gooey body.

Angel threw the Hanoch off. The demon landed on its back, struggling to get back up. Angel brought his sword down. The demon rolled out of the way, leaping back up to its feet. Angel drew his sword back up quickly, but wasn't in time as the Hanoch leaped clean off the ground and swung its spiny legs into his chest. Angel flew backwards, hearing a loud squeal as he felt slimy flesh break his fall. He jumped up to see the tentacle demon laying on the ground, the sword stuck in its neck. Green blood gushed from the wound as it flapped on the grass.

"Thanks mate." Spike said as he stood up.

He grabbed Angel's sword off the ground. Green blood was glistening on the blade. He swung the sword in Angel's direction and hit the Hanoch demon as it came running towards them. Its head fell off its body and hit the ground. The body continued advancing for a second, before falling to its knees and laying there lifeless.

Buffy walked up to them, covered head-to-toe in purple gunk.

"I am in dire need of a piping hot shower." She faced Angel. "You okay?"

"Doing fine. I just had to rescue Spike here from that squid monster. Usually I let him handle his own fights, but what can I say, I felt sorry for him." Angel smirked.

"Oh please, you know I had him. The bloody idiot didn't realize I don't need oxygen. I was playing helpless victim for a bit to catch him off guard. I would have had him if Angel wouldn't have interrupted after that solid ass whipping he was receiving over there."

"That's because I got side-tracked enjoying your pale ass getting thrown all over the graveyard!"

"Guys! Can we please move on?" Buffy interrupted. "Remember? Portal open? Nasty things running around and killing locals while a Big Bad is loose on the streets?"

"Fine." They both said.

They walked out of the graveyard, tired. They had been fighting for well over a couple hours and felt they were getting nowhere. They had faced countless demons over that span of time and so far there was no sign of Laibach or Drusilla. Buffy had called earlier to see how Giles was fairing with the research, but no such luck. The best they could do right now was to stay out and try to keep the civilian casualties to a minimum.

"I wonder what's keeping Gunn and Wesley?" Angel said. "They should be out here by now. We need as much help as we can. It would make patrol go a lot faster."

"What's the rush? Can't wait to go back to your L.A. life, with their fancy parties, big cars…and Cordelia?"

Buffy didn't know why she had said that. Seeing Angel and Cordelia that close had been on her mind all night. Of course the two had time to bond over the past couple years fighting back in Los Angeles and all, and that Buffy had moved on as well. But it still bothered her a bit.

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"I see the way you two have been looking at each other since you got here. What happened down there? Did you win her heart with over two-hundred bucks worth of clothes?"

"That's not fair and you know it! You may have not realized it, Buffy, but Cordelia has changed since the last time you've seen her."

"And you would be the perfect example of that, wouldn't you?" she retorted. Angel sighed.

"Look, Buffy, the relationship between me and Cordy is strictly business. It's not what we had. I love Cordelia, but it could never work out between us."

Buffy suddenly felt guilty.

"But while we're on the subject of relationships, what about you and Spike? He's been following behind you drooling all night."

"You are jealous of _Spike?"_

"Hey!" Spike yelled from behind them. "How in the bloody hell did I get in all this?"

"There is no way in hell I would be caught dead with him, and you know it."

"Help!" a female voice screamed.

Angel glanced to see a young red-headed girl in jeans and a purple tank top running from a hairy, gorilla-like demon. Angel walked briskly up to the sidewalk, cutting the demon off. He raised his sword and jabbed it into the demon's broad chest. The demon howled and staggered as Angel pulled the blade out. It fell to the concrete, lifeless. The woman stared back at him lovingly.

"Thank you so much! You saved my life!"

Without so much as a retort and leaving the confused woman behind, Angel walked back over to Buffy and Spike.

"I don't see why not." He said, pointing a finger at her. "Apparently you like him enough to let him run around your legs after all the problems he caused a few years ago. If I remember it right, Spike was the one who brought Laibach here the first time." He replied to Buffy.

"You think I'm in love with Buffy!" Spike said, trying to sound offended. "Please, I wouldn't hear of it."

"Umm…thanks." The woman said from behind them. Watching as the three of them continued to argue.

"Yeah right, Spike," Angel continued, completely ignoring her.

Feeling out of place, the woman just walked away quietly.

"I've seen the way you get all mushy around her. 'Of course, Buffy.' 'I'll take this one out for you Buffy.' 'Buffy, look out.'"

"Spike has proven more than once that he is capable of providing help when needed. The only reason why Spike is still alive is because the Initiative made it so he wouldn't survive a fist fight with Mother Teresa and I don't have the heart to dust him."

"Let me take care of that for you then." Angel said as he drew out a stake and advanced on Spike. Buffy pushed him back.

"What the hell is wrong with you!"

"I just don't see why you want to keep Bleach Boy around when you know what he could be capable of. Did you ever think about what he could do to you if that chip stopped working?"

"I think ol' Nancy Boy here can't handle the fact that I finally have something you can't get your mitts on, eh? You left Sunnydale years ago and you can't stand me taking your place. After decades and decades of me following your shadow and getting your scraps, taking everything from me including Dru, it hurts to know that finally I am the head cheese around here. I bet it just burns inside knowing that whenever the Slayer runs into an issue, she'll come to me first."

"Oh please, Spike, you're full of it. The day I see Buffy come running to you all teary-eyed for help is the day my ashes will be blowing in the wind. Even then you don't stand a chance."

"Want to bet on that?"

The two vampires closed in on each other, challenging each other to make the wrong move.

"Guys, let's save blows right now. We got company." Buffy said.

Angel glanced in the direction Buffy was looking. Up ahead were a gang of demons with human bodies and pink, slimy fleshy heads, holding a variety of weapons. Angel saw a few holding bats, kitchen knives, and even one with a golf club.

"Daemites." Spike said quietly.

---

Giles removed his glasses and rubbed at his temples gingerly. His mind was full of worry, clouding up almost any possibility of getting anything done. Laibach was loose, Willow and Tara were in a coma, the portal was open and people were dying, and Buffy and the others were out there for a long time and he hasn't heard anything back. Not that he was all that worried over Buffy. She had proven to him that she could handle almost anything. Plus, Angel was there to help her and Giles had no worry over him as well. Giles suddenly thought of something he didn't think of before.

"Winifred, you came back from a hell dimension, correct? Do you recall anything about inter-dimensional portals from your experience?"

Fred looked up from the book she was looking at. Her eyes squinted, deep in thought.

"Well…there was this one book Wesley said he had used to get to Pylea. But I don't know what he did with it. If he still had it I'm sure he would have sent it down with us in case something like this did happen."

Giles sighed.

"T-thank you, Winifred."

"You can just call me Fred." She said, smiling.

Giles grinned back at her. The girl had an adorable charm to her. She reminded him of how Willow was when they all spent their days at the library in Sunnydale High. She seemed so eager to participate in research, and even offered her own insight from time to time, even though they were still unable to come up with an answer to all this.

Just then, the front door opened. Giles turned to see Willow and Xander standing in the doorway. Willow looked like a wreck. Laibach had apparently taken a lot out of her. Xander, though not as bad, looked a mess as well.

"Hey." She said with a weak smile.

Giles stood up, returning the smile. He was so surprised he didn't know what to say.

"Aw come on, hug already." Xander said.

Giles walked up and gave her a warm hug.

"It's good to see you, Willow."

"I'm good to see." She replied, still grinning.

Fred came over. Giles had almost forgotten about her.

"Oh yes, this is, um, Ms. Winifred Burkle. She arrived here with Angel and Cordelia shortly before you passed out."

"Just call me Fred." Fred replied.

Fred came up and they gave each other a hug.

"It's nice to meet you, Fred." Willow said.

"Nice to meet you too."

"Well, since we got all the X's and O's out of the way, what's next?" Xander asked.

"Well, um, I-I'm not too sure, actually." Giles replied. "Winifred, ah, um, Fred and I have been doing a little research on inter-dimensional portals and such with no luck. Buffy, Angel, and Spike went out to keep the murders down for awhile until we can come up with a stable solution. Cordelia has been suffering from a series of visions of the various dangers that have occurred over the past few hours and it has rendered her in a sort of catatonic state. They seemed to have died down a bit though. She still seems to be bothered in her sleep, but at she doesn't seem to be suffering as badly."

Willow turned to see Cordelia. She was frowning in her sleep. Soft moans escaped her lips as she tossed and turned.

"The gang's all here then." Willow said. "Well, except for Wesley, if you want to count him. What made him decide not to go?"

"Someone needed to keep a watch out for things in the city while Angel is away. If what Angel says is true, he might be on his way right now actually. We certainly could use the help."

"Well, I'm up now. Let's crack these spell books and see what I can come up with."

"Willow, are you sure?" Giles asked, worriedly. "Laibach took a lot out of you and I don't know if you're capable of handling spells at the moment."

"I don't know exactly how much power he took out of me." She said "But I can't just sit here, Giles. All that out there is happening because of me. Because of my addiction to magick, I allowed my girlfriend to be completely violated by that thing, and work behind our backs to lead the world into destruction. I'm not gonna sit here all night and play with my fingers, letting you do all the work with all that on my soul. I'm just not."

Giles sighed.

"Of course."

"Good. I'll check the net for sources."

"I'll keep going through the books. Fred and Xander, you two will assist." Giles said.

"What about Cordelia?" Xander asked.

"What about me." Cordelia said hoarsely, sitting up from the chair.

"How are you feeling?" Giles asked.

"Ask me that after this jackhammer stops pounding in my head." She replied. "At least the visions stopped for now. I should be well enough to do something rather than just lay here. What do you need me to do?"

"You can help us all out with the research. We're looking for a way to close to portal." Giles said.

"Good. I'm in."

"Let's get crackin." Willow said.

The four of them went down to get to business. Giles turned back to Willow.

"Um, Willow, how exactly did you convince the doctors to let you go? Wouldn't they have liked if you stayed for a day or so to run some tests?"

"They um, sorta don't know that I'm gone." She said, playing with her fingers.

Giles stood there for a moment.

"Right." He said, brushing it off.

---

Angel swung his blade towards the nearest Daemite, slicing cleanly through its neck. Blood spilled from its severed neck and it fell to the ground, twitching in agony.

Meanwhile, Buffy was in a tug-of-war match with one that held a wooden shovel. Angel came up from behind it and took out the back of its legs with the hilt of his sword. The Daemite lost its grip on the bat and fell to its knees. Buffy broke the handle of the shovel in half and drove the pointy end into the demon's chest, killing it instantly.

"Why did you stake it?" Angel asked.

Buffy thought for a moment.

"Habit…I guess." She said, throwing the weapon down. "Well, hey, at least it worked." She said cheerfully.

"That it did."

Buffy smiled up at him.

Suddenly, a Daemite appeared from behind her and lifted her off the ground. Buffy swung her head back. She heard a loud crunch as her head connected with its jaw. The demon released its grip and she fell to the ground. She swept her leg out on the ground, knocking the demon over. Angel tossed Buffy her hatchet she had dropped earlier. She swung it down and buried it into the Daemite's chest.

The Daemite swung the giant wrench towards Spike's head. He ducked out of the way, and grabbed hold of it. He kicked his leg out, smashing it into the Daemite's chest. He came back in just as the demon staggered backwards, and swung the wrench into its soft skull.

Spike heard a cocking sound, and turned to see a Daemite holding a shotgun. The demon aimed at him and fired before Spike had time to react. A sharp pain burrowed into his chest. Spike clenched his gut and fell down in agony. Gasping, he looked up in time to see Buffy kick the shotgun out of the demon's hands and bring the barrel down on its head.

"Well, that's all of them." Buffy said. "Now what? Should we check on Giles?"

"That doesn't sound like a bad idea." Angel replied. "He's probably worried about what's going on. Plus, I want to check and see if Wesley or Gunn arrived yet."

"Why in the bloody hell do we need another one of your flunkies out here, Angel? We can handle this all on our own." Spike asked, annoyed.

"Don't start, Spike." Angel warned.

"I'm not trying to start anything. But the old Angelus I knew didn't have to depend on a bunch of blood bags all the time when things get a bit rough around the edges."

Angel opened his mouth to reply, but suddenly stopped. He studied the air, his face tense.

"What?" Buffy asked.

"Do you feel that?" he asked quietly.

"I feel it too." Spike said.

A powerful blast suddenly erupted, causing the three of them to fly backwards. A large black shadow-like figure formed where they once stood. The black figure began to take shape, and Laibach stood there, glaring down at them.

Spike jumped up, faced vamped out. He bared his fangs at Laibach and starting moving towards him. Laibach lifted one huge claw hand and made a clenched fist. Spike's neck suddenly jolted and a brutal snap sounded. He fell to his knees.

The splintered bat Buffy had earlier levitated from the ground and flew towards Spike. Spike cried out in pain as the bat drove into his chest, right below his heart.

Angel was already on him. He took his sword and swung it towards Laibach. Laibach grabbed the end of the sword in mid-swing. The hilt of the sword began to feel hot. Angel clenched his teeth, trying to ignore the searing pain and release the weapon from Laibach's grasp. To Angel's surprise, the blade began to melt. Angel let go of the handle just as it began to liquidate. Angel looked down at his burned hands. He looked up to see Laibach's huge fist smash into his face, causing him to fly back.

Laibach spun around and grabbed Buffy's foot, catching her off guard from her sneak attack. He brought her foot further up, causing her to loose her balance and fall to the ground. He smashed his foot into her side. He was rewarded with a pained cry.

He surveyed the damage around him. Both vampires and the Slayer were in bad condition. He thought about finishing them off, knocking them out of the way as to not interfere with his plans.

He felt another presence somewhere in the town. Another threat. He would take care of that first. He was no longer worried about the Slayer and her friends. She would die along with the rest of them once Batal reigned over the world.

_Especially with her Watcher and her witch friend out of the picture._

Laibach already knew about Willow waking up. He could feel her. He would take care of her and Giles with no problem. There was another threat to take care of


	8. Ambushed

"Giles, it's Buffy." Xander said, covering the mouthpiece of the phone.

Giles got up and came over to the phone. Xander, Fred, and Willow listened eagerly.

"Buffy?"

"Giles." She replied. She sounded worn out.

"Buffy, is everything alright?"

"Yeah. As all right as someone can be after surviving a collision with a diesel truck. We ran into Laibach. He caught us all off guard. Spike and Angel are okay, but we're all a little dented."

"Do you, um, need assistance?" Giles asked.

"Several hours of massage therapy and a hot Jacuzzi would be great, but we should be okay. We're still waiting for another part of Angel's team to show up. In the meantime, we'll try to stay out. Although I don't know how long we can hold out after our run in with Laibach, I can't rest knowing that people are still dying out here."

"I understand. Well, Wesley should be here shortly."

"Great. Any word on Willow and Tara?"

"Willow is, um, actually here right now. She arrived here with Xander not too long ago. Would you like to speak with her?"

Willow snatched the phone up before Buffy replied.

"Buffy. Hey!"

"Will! How's it hangin'? You doing okay?"

"I'm doing fine. Although a little shaky. I'm looking up a spell to close the portal. I'm not sure if I have enough power to do whatever needs to be done, but I'm not gonna let that stop me."

"I understand, Will. Work your mojo. Me, Angel, and Spike are out here taking care of the demon population. How's Tara?"

"Not good. She's still in the hospital. Anya and Dawn are there now watching over her. Dawn is doing okay."

"Willow, I'm sorry. I..."

"Don't worry, Buffy, we'll get to the bottom of this. All that Tara had to suffer won't be in vain. I mean, hell, we stopped Laibach before, right?"

"Yeah, but this is different. He's much stronger now. I had the luxury of running into him a few minutes ago. He's powerful, Will. I don't think closing the portal is going to do it. We need to find a way to get rid of him for good."

"We'll get right to it. Take care, Buffy."

"Bye."

"Bye."

Willow hung up the phone. She sighed and glanced around the shop. Giles and Xander sat around the table, going through books. Xander was lightly tapping the eraser end of his pencil as he reads through a book titled _Portals, Black Holes, and High Speed Traveling: Volume 1. _Giles sat across from him, thumbing through the second volume. Fred was at the counter, looking through the internet on Willow's laptop, Cordelia sat besides her, helping out with the search. They had picked it up from Buffy's house after getting out of the hospital. Willow walked up to check on Fred.

"Find anything interesting?" she asked.

"Nope." She sighed. "I've been looking for awhile, and the most I've gotten are a bunch of scams and pop-ups that give the opportunity to win a million dollars in big bright letters."

"We did find one article earlier about this guy that mentioned something about an inter-dimensional portal that showed up in his backyard, but it turns out that he was suffering from an acid trip." Cordelia added.

"Great." Willow sighed.

She told everyone that she didn't want to just sit around and she was doing just that. She wanted to be out there with Buffy and the others, fighting demons and saving people. But without her powers, she was useless.

Willow took a glance outside. Even though it was almost six in the morning, the sky was still pitch black. It seemed like some kind of dark shroud was covering the sky, blocking out the moon and stars. It seemed to block the sun out as well.

Something flashed in the corner of her eye. The light deflected for as second, a shadow.

"Something wrong, Will?" Xander asked.

"Um…nothing. It's probably nothing. I'm just a little paranoid."

With her condition and the stressful situation that they were in, it made sense to her. Still, there was unspeakable evil out there and they should be aware of what might decide to come in. Willow took one more glance and focused back on the computer. A loud crash, like the sound of breaking glass sounded from the basement. Giles signaled to Xander, pulling an imaginary trigger with his fingers.

"Weapons." He whispered.

Xander jumped up from the table and jogged quietly to the training room.

Willow, Fred, and Cordelia ducked behind the counter. Willow opened up a cabinet and took out four stakes. She popped her head back up and tossed one of them to Giles. She split the remaining three between Fred, Cordy, and herself.

The door to the basement busted open. Giles watched from behind a shelf as a huge bald vampire came walking in. He appeared to be at least six feet tall. Three other vampires followed closely behind.

Fred, Cordelia, and Willow waited in silence as footsteps lingered into the shop. Fred estimated at least three or four intruders. She could hear them whispering amongst themselves, but she couldn't make out what they were saying.

The whispering stopped. For a minute there was complete silence. Cordelia sat close to Fred, waiting nervously.

A rough hand suddenly grabbed Fred's wrist and pulled her from behind the counter. A dark-skinned vampire with short hair held her by her arm.

"What do we have here?" he asked, menacingly.

Fred felt a hot tear begin to drop down her eye. She stared pleadingly at the vampire, praying for Giles or Willow to save her.

A loud bang sounded from behind the vampire, and she was dropped to the ground. The vampire fell on top of her, and then suddenly exploded into a cloud of dust as it wore a pained, surprised expression. Fred looked down at her dusty clothes to see that she had her stake pointing up in her hands.

Xander stood in the doorway by where the vampire once stood holding a crossbow. Xander had kicked down the door and apparently saved Fred's life. The vampire was knocked from the impact and landed on Fred's stake.

"Whoops." He said sheepishly.

The vampires charged towards Xander. One of them reached him and smacked the crossbow out of his hand. He grabbed Xander by the throat and picked him up, throwing him on top of the table.

Another vampire charged towards Giles. Giles lifted up a bottle of holy water and threw it into his face. The vampire screamed and scratched at his face as it incinerated. Giles took him out of his misery with a stake to the heart.

Willow snatched Xander's crossbow off the ground and aimed towards the vampire that held Xander against the wall. She fired the bolt straight into the left side of his back, dusting him instantly. Xander fell to the ground, coughing as the dust got into his lungs.

Giles trained his crossbow on the remaining vamp, the lead guy.

"Who sent you?"

The vampire bared his fangs defiantly. He glanced around the shop to see Willow trained on him as well.

"Laibach sent us…to destroy the witch." He said, nodding towards Willow. "But this is all just a diversion. Just wait until…" He suddenly dusted. His sentence trailing off as his dust settled to the ground. Cordelia stood there, holding a stake in her hands.

"Cordelia." Giles said, sighing.

"What? He was here to kill Willow. I was just trying to do you all a favor…sorry."

"That's quite alright." Giles said.

"Yeah, we still love you." Xander said, putting his hand on her shoulder.

"So, what do ya'll think the vampire guy means by 'diversion'?" Fred asked.

"I'm not sure." Willow said. "I don't want to think about anything else coming in here after me. Though it is kinda flattering that I'm all important enough to have someone assigned to kill me, still…yeesh."

"J-just hang tight for now, stay on guard." Giles said.

Fred hugged herself for security. The whole idea that something was out there with a hit out on them freaked her out quiet a bit.

She heard a loud creak behind her. A mild breeze brushed past her hair. She spun around to face a pair of glimmering, diamond-shaped eyes. The thing lifted up one clawed hand quickly and smacked her across the face. Fred fell back, bumping her head against the table. She hit the ground, unconscious.

"Fred!" Cordelia yelled as she watched Fred's head hit the table and fall out cold.

There were three of them. They had reptilian-like features, clawed hands in all extremities, and wore dark hooded robes. They moved with ninja-quick speed. One of them rushed up to Giles and smacked the crossbow out of his hand, then smashing its fist into his gut in one fluid motion. Willow fired her crossbow at the one closest to her. The demon smacked the bolt out of midair and leaped in front of her, coming down with a stunning blow that sent Willow to the ground. The demon bent down and grabbed her by the throat. Willow kicked and gagged helplessly as the demon choked the life out of her.

Xander walked up to Cordelia holding a small hatchet. The rept-face that had knocked out Fred came up to face them. Without thinking, Xander swung the hatchet towards its face. The demon spun around, blocking the blow and following it with an uppercut to Xander's chin. Cordelia screamed as his head snapped back. The demon shut her up with a blow to the face which sent her flying back into the counter.

Nava watched as Willow began to pass out. He and his crew were ordered by Laibach to eliminate her, as well as the Watcher, to prevent them from being any kind of threat. He sent Dawson and his crew earlier to catch the group off guard. Once the Slayer's friends were dead, Batal would continue to swallow the world. Laibach promised him control over this whole area if he succeeded.

Willow's eyes rolled back and her head went limp. Nava snickered in glee as her whole body went limp as well. He tightened his grip on her throat, ready to snap her neck, when her head suddenly snapped up. She glared back at him with tar-black eyes which seemed to envelope her entire iris. She began to say a chant in a language he wasn't familiar with. A jolt of electricity surged through him, and he quickly released his grip on her. To his surprise, her body remained aloft. All of the other warriors stopped to gasp as the witch remained floating in the air, chanting some sort of spell. A sphere of glowing red energy materialized around her, encasing her. Everyone began to back away. Willow's head jerked up suddenly towards the ceiling and screamed out the last line of the chant. The sphere suddenly expanded, covering the whole room. All the demons in the room combusted, bursting into ash that flew about the room. The sphere dissipated, and Willow fell to the ground, coughing.

Giles dusted his sweater off, and looked towards Willow's direction. She was laying against the wall, breathing hard. Giles ran up to her, placing a hand on Willow's shoulder.

"Willow, are you okay?"

Willow turned to Giles with a pained smile.

"I'm fine, better than fine. I have my power back, Giles." She said, breathlessly.

"Yes. Well, it seems like you had it all along. I don't think magick is something that you could just have taken away from you, Willow. It's who you are. You have just lost the capability to control it since Laibach drained you."

Xander was helping a groggy Cordelia up, and Fred was limping towards the group, holding her head.

"Is everyone okay?" Willow asked.

"Well, I was about to faint in girlish fear until you helped out, Will." Xander said. "So thank you for keeping my manliness untainted." Willow smiled at him. "Looks like you got the mojo working out now, eh?"

"Yeah, way to go, Carrie. If I knew you were that powerful I would have rethought everything I used to say to you back in high school." Cordelia said.

"You okay?" Xander asked, turning to Cordy.

"Not that my head wasn't already throbbing before I got my lights knocked out. I just need to lie down." She replied.

"Well we can't rest here. More demons might be coming after us. We should go to my place." Giles said.

"What are you gonna do now that you can do magic and stuff?" Fred asked.

"I should go out and kick Laibach's ass." Willow said.

"As tempting as that may be, Willow, you should rest." Giles said. "If you still have your powers, that just increases the possibilities of your ability to do whatever needs to be done to close the portal. You should rest and build your power up."

"Fine." She sighed. "But I'm calling shotgun."

---

The shotgun blast echoed through the dark streets of Sunnydale. The rounds from the blast struck Laibach square in his chest, compacting on impact and falling to the ground, leaving him unharmed. Lilah watched as one of her men whom had fired the gun was pulled towards Laibach by a mere hand gesture. Laibach picked him off the ground and twisted his head. Lilah heard a brutal snap before his body went limp. Laibach tossed the lifeless body into a group of men training their weapons on him, causing them to fall back as their dead comrade landed on them.

From a short distance, Drusilla watched eagerly. After hours of searching, Lilah had finally spotted her. Her men captured her, ready to send her back to Los Angeles and claim the demon inside her. It was already too late before Lilah realized her mistake. Laibach had already taken a few men out, and it appeared that the rest didn't stand a chance against him.

Laibach suddenly vanished. His whole body became transparent, then quickly faded away. The air was quiet save for her own breathing and the confused whispering of the soldiers. A loud scream suddenly sounded. She looked to see Spencer screaming painfully as he covered a hand across his left eye, blood oozing. Another loud scream followed by a gurgle, and Hempstead was on his knees, blood splattering from a gaping wound in his throat.

Soon men all around her began dying. Drusilla began laughing manically, throwing her hands into the sky and twirling about singing as men around her were being eliminated.

"There's a gathering at the square! All the maidens foul and fair, shall be dancing hand in hand, as blood is spilled across the land! We're all invited to the feast, we shall consume both man and beast, and like our presents open wide, their chests and taste the heart inside!" she sang madly.

Lilah ran. She jumped into the nearest jeep and started the ignition, the keys already sitting in there. She sped off, screams still echoing from behind her and the calls of the surviving soldiers. She was fooling herself. There was no way in hell they would be able to subdue Laibach and convince him to join the firm.

_That's what they think anyway._

Who was she fooling with that cover story? No demon in his right mind as powerful as Laibach would even consider letting Wolfram & Hart take them over as one of their clients, especially with plans as big as Laibach's. The real reason why Lilah was out here was to actually let Laibach carry out his entire plan and merge Batal with Earth, because she wanted a piece of it. If there was a way she could convince Laibach to let her join him, she could gain ultimate power and own a piece of the world once the merge was complete. It was a risky idea, and a dumb one at that. She let that all go to her head. Years of being pushed around by the Senior Partners driven to the point where she actually thought a stupid plan like that would work.

Lilah gasped as the towering form of Laibach suddenly materialized in front of the road. She swerved the car to the right in a panic. The jeep spun out of control, going off the side of the road and onto the sidewalk. The car slammed into a tree, bringing it to a halt. Lilah's face smashed into the steering wheel.

Every inch of her body hurt, especially her forehead. She silently cursed to herself for not having airbags installed. She rested her head back against the seat. She felt like she was still spinning uncontrollable. The sensation made her sick to her stomach. She closed her eyes, trying to block out the throbbing pain and dizziness. She heard loud footsteps and heavy breathing coming towards the car. She glanced to her side to see Laibach standing in front of her window. He raised a massive hand and punched through it, grabbing her by her hair and pulling her out. She screamed as her scalp burned from the violent tug. Shards of glass cut at her legs as she was pulled right out of the broken window. Laibach tossed her to the ground.

She sat up and faced him.

"It doesn't have to be like this." She said breathlessly. "I want to help you. Those soldiers were just a diversion. I just needed them to convince the Senior Partners to let me go. I can help keep the vampire and the Slayer out of the way, to ensure that your plans go uninterrupted. All I ask for is a little bit of power. Everything else is yours."

"I don't need your help." He replied in a throaty voice. "The Slayer and her friends are not a threat to me. I have no desire to share any of this with anyone. You're just in the way. It was foolish of you to come out here. Your life will be wasted just as easily as those who inhabit this town and are unwary to there destruction."

"Oh. Looks like I missed out in all the fun. Mind if I join?" a soft voice said.

Lilah turned to see Drusilla walking towards them. She glanced at Lilah. A wide grin planted on her face and she spun towards Laibach.

"Can I have her? Can I?" she asked. "You got to play with all the other pets, leaving me behind with only a young whimpering one. I didn't like 'im. He made my tongue taste all bitter."

"Very well, then." Laibach replied.

With the woman's current condition, it wouldn't be as fun anymore. He had other stuff to worry about. Laibach disappeared. His features became a black shadow, which carried itself off into the wind.

Drusilla grinned.

"I remember you. You're the mean lady from the place with all those funny little people in black suits. I had a great time at the gathering. All those delicious treats."

"Stay away from me, you crazy bitch!" Lilah spat.

Drusilla pouted.

"No fun when they don't scream." She whined.

Her lips suddenly tightened. She glared at her with piercing eyes.

"Why don't you ask mommy to let you have one last supper with the family before mommy makes you bleed until you see all sorts of pretty lights."

She began swaying back and forth madly, as her demonic features began to form.

"Twinkling lights while you dance to the music that comes bursting through your throat."

"Enough with the freak show, already." An approaching figure said.

The newcomer kicked out at Drusilla, hitting her in the stomach and causing her to fall to the pavement.

Lilah glanced at the woman in recognition.

"I've seen some freaky stuff between some girls where I've been, but this takes the cake."

_Faith._


	9. A Special Guest

LOS ANGELES – 2:07AM 

Faith continued to rub the end of her toothbrush on the end of her bunk, pondering over the conversation she just had with Wesley. He had showed up not too long ago, pretending to be her lawyer. How he was able to convince the security to let him talk to her at two in the morning was beyond her, but whatever.

Wesley had told her about their encounter with Laibach. Faith didn't know too much about him, but she remembered something about him a few years ago when she helped Buffy rescue a group of people being sacrificed for some ritual Laibach was involved in. Wesley wanted her to go to Sunnydale and help Angel and Buffy prevent a portal from opening. As much as she didn't want to go back to that town, it beat the hell out of staying here. Plus, she felt like she owed them something, regardless of the crap the cops were gonna give her once she got out.

After she agreed, she told Wesley to wait outside with the car ready. She had a plan.

The end of the brush was nice and sharp. She glanced up at the top bunk to see her roommate, Clarice fast asleep. The woman was a heavy sleeper, so Faith was gonna have to be as loud as possible if she wanted this to work right away.

She sat up in her bunk and took a deep breath, holding the sharpened toothbrush in her right hand. Clenching her teeth, she took the sharp edge of the brush and ran it across her left wrist.

"Aaaaahhhhhhhhhh!" she screamed out, falling to the ground.

She landed on her knees, and rolled over on her back. Blood oozed from her wound, staining her blue jumpsuit. Clarice jumped out of bed and stared at Faith in horror. She ran to the bars, yelling out into the halls.

"Somebody help! Faith is bleeding! It's getting all over!"

The lights cut on in the hallways and Faith could hear the sound of guards as they came rushing towards her cell. The gate to the cell opened, and a few guards came running in.

One of them came up to her while the others stayed nearby. The guard knelt down beside her and grabbed her arm.

"We got a bleeder, it looks bad. Send her to the infirmary." The guard said.

Faith saw a glimmer out of the corner of her eyes. Sure enough, a set of keys were dangling from the man's belt. Her plan would work.

_Now here comes the tricky part._

The other two guards were peering over her when they were suddenly greeted by a rough kick that sent them flying backwards into the hallway. The guard holding her arm gasped in surprise before Faith brought her uninjured arm up and punched him in the face. He released his grasp to cradle his face. Faith quickly snatched the keys off his belt and pivoted towards him, bringing her leg out and tripping him from under his feet.

She jumped up to her feet to see the other two guards as well as a few more coming towards the cell.

"Later, Clarice." Faith said before she took a running dive right through the guards.

She landed in the middle of the hallway and rolled right back up to her feet. She turned left and took off. Gunshots went off from behind her. Someone set off the alarm, alerting more guards about her escape.

One guard, a middle aged man, stepped in front of her, weapon raised. Faith stopped dead in her tracks and kicked her foot out. Her boot smashed into the man's hands, causing the gun to fly out. Faith took him out with a quick punch to the head.

She reached the gate to the front lobby and took out the set of keys. She quickly fumbled with them as various yells and shots could be heard coming from behind her. She tried the first key, and let out a deep breath as the key went in with ease. She turned it and pushed the gate open.

Wesley sat in the car, lost at thought, when a gun suddenly went off inside the building. He glanced eagerly, praying for Faith's safety as more gunshots sounded, followed by the blaring sound of an alarm. He threw the license plates in the back, as to avoid anyone memorizing the number as they fled. What had felt like a full hour had passed when the door flew open, and out came a panicked Faith as she ran through the yard. More gunshots went off as guards outside as well as in the building opened fire. She jumped on top of a bench right next to fence and with the skill only a Slayer could possess, jumped over the fence, rolling on the ground next to the car. Wesley threw the passenger door open. Faith leaped back to her feet and jumped into the car. Wesley took off, leaving behind the various guards as they continued to chase their escaped prisoner.

SUNNYDALE – 6:01AM

So here she was, back in Sunnydale. After her escape, they made it to some big abandoned hotel that Angel and his crew apparently stayed at. She met Charles Gunn, a young African-American guy from the city, and this really weird looking dude with green skin, red eyes, and a loud yellow suit by the name of Lorne. She really didn't have time to talk to them, with the police on her ass and all, but they seemed like a cool bunch.

Wesley had filled her more in the details about how the portal to Laibach's dimension was open and she had to get there to help the others and all, then sent her on her way. Wesley had her take Gunn's truck out there since Wesley's car would already be on the cop's radar. Gunn wasn't all too happy about it, but hey, gotta do what ya gotta do.

The dark-haired vampire glared angrily at her from the ground. Faith was on her way to meet up with Buffy and the others when she caught this vampire attacking a woman on the street next to a crashed jeep. She figured she could use the practice. Been a long time since she's been in a fight not counting the many times she had to take out the next girl who thought they could build their reputation in the pen by taking her on.

Faith pulled out her stake and prepared to advance. The vampire leaped off the ground and charged. Faith swung the stake towards her, but she was too fast. The vampire grabbed her arm and twisted it. She screamed out in pain as the vamp twisted her arm behind her back and held her.

Faith acted quickly. She threw her head back, smashing it into the vampire's face. Faith spun around bringing a backhand to her face. The vampire growled in rage and returned the punch, smacking her in the mouth. She spit out blood from her busted lip and wiped her mouth.

"Bitch." Faith replied, scowling.

Lilah watched with slight amusement as Faith came back in swinging. Each blow connected to Drusilla's face. Dru managed to block one and counter her attack, only for Faith to grab her arm and kick her in the chest. Faith came back in for another attack, but Dru blocked her advance. She dug her long nails into a long gash on Faith's left wrist. Faith yelled out in pain and went down to her knees. She stared at the ground. Pain and defeat etched in her features. Drusilla placed her hand under Faith's chin and lifted her head up to face her.

"Look into my eyes." She said.

Faith appeared to be in a trance, her gaze lost in Drusilla's eyes.

"Bad puppy, ruff!" she said with a small throaty bark. "Ms. Edith says its time to put you down, like that other bad dog. She didn't so much as whimper before I slashed her little throat."

"She is going to kill her." Lilah said quietly.

As amusing as it would be to see Faith die before her eyes after the headache she caused the firm a couple years ago, but Faith's demise could quite possibly mean the end of herself as well.

Faith stared deep into the insane vampire's yellow eyes. The pain from the slash in her wrist now intensified from the vamp's attack. Fresh blood dripped on the pavement.

The vampire lunged for her, Faith snapped out of the trance and ducked the blow, pushing herself against the vamp's body and giving her a hard shove. The vamp let out a surprised yell as she fell back, landing roughly against the crashed jeep.

Faith jumped up and picked up her stake off the ground. She came in for the kill, but was rewarded with a hard slap which sent the stake flying out of her hands. The vampire let out a frustrated cry of rage and pushed her back, causing Faith to fall backwards onto the pavement. The vampire looked down at her with a sad pout.

"This isn't fun anymore." She said. "This wasn't supposed to happen at all. The party is all ruined and the guest have begun to become bored."

She glanced around nervously, pulling at her hair.

"This is all wrong! I can hear all their little voices nagging in my head. I cannot stay any longer!"

With that, the vampire took off. Faith watched as she disappeared off into the night.

"Man, what a nut job." She said, standing up and dusting off her blue jumpsuit.

She turned around to see the woman that was being attacked earlier. Faith recognized her from that weird law firm in Los Angeles that had hired her to kill Angel before she turned herself in. The woman looked a wreck. Her legs were all cut up and she had a wicked bruise on her forehead. The woman looked up to face her.

"Well, if it isn't 'Slayer: The Sequel'. Not as good as the first one, but with a bigger body count." She remarked, snidely.

"You." Faith replied.

"Yeah, well, I'm usually referred to as Ms. Lilah Morgan, but you're about to die anyway so why should we bothered getting well aquatinted?"

"You just better be happy I saved your ass. If I knew who you were I would have just let Psycho Bitch finish you off."

"And you're just one to talk, aren't you?" she replied, standing. "Honestly I don't know how you managed to get out of your little rat cage, but you're wasting your time. Even if you get a hold of the Tedarke Dagger, it wouldn't be enough time before Laibach eliminates all of you."

"Tedarke Dagger?" Faith asked.

"Did I just say that out loud? Oops." She said, slyly. "Anyways, do what you will with that little remarkable piece of information. I can care less what happens to Laibach, you, or the rest of this miserable little town. I'm done here."

Lilah brushed past Faith and into the jeep. The engine started up after a few tries. She backed it up onto the street, coming up to Faith's side.

"Tell Angel I said hi."

She drove off, leaving Faith behind in the middle of the street.

---

"Get out!" Buffy said, amused.

Angel nodded his head.

"I guess Cordelia finally got all the attention she wanted during high school then. How did you manage to drag her back?"

"A threat to end her life for her powers, angry mob, battles to the death. You know, the usual."

"Well, I guess she has changed quite a bit. If you called the Cordelia I knew a 'cow', she would have someone hired to ruin your life before they killed you." Buffy said.

Angel gave her a warm smile as she cuddled in his arms. The two of them were walking back to the Magic Box. Spike went back to his crypt for a little while. After their run-in with Laibach, she talked to Giles and Willow and went back out to fight some more. They encountered several more nasties, and decided to head back to the Magic Box to regain some more strength before heading back out. Laibach took a lot out of them and they didn't want to be caught with their hands in their pockets again. So far, everything seemed pretty quiet. Either their interference shortened the number of demons around, or there weren't enough people around to cause a racket. The last thought sent an involuntary shiver down her spine

They approached the shop. Another feeling of unease struck her as she saw that the door to the shop open and the lights were off.

"Uh oh." Buffy said.

"What's going on?" Angel asked.

"I don't know. But open doors and creepy darkness is never of the good. Especially right now."

They walked up and quietly stepped inside. Buffy waited as her eyes adjusted to the dark. From what she could tell, the place was a wreck.

"Where are the others?" Buffy whispered. "Do you see them?"

"No, but there's sign of a struggle. Either they left in a hurry or they were taken away."

"God, I hope not. Giles wouldn't just leave without calling….and if it was an attack, I'm pretty sure they could handle it on their own. Come on, Angel, have a little…"

"Faith?" Angel said, glancing off ahead.

Buffy looked in the direction Angel was staring. A dark-haired woman dressed in a blue prison jumpsuit had her back turned to them. Buffy walked up to her and reached her hand out.

"Faith."

Faith jerked back, shoving her hand off. Faith spun around quickly. In her right hand was a sharp dagger, blood dripping from the blade.

_Oh god, its her! She did this!_

With a sharp snap, Buffy knocked the knife out of her hand and grabbed the front of her shirt.

"Buffy! Angel yelled.

Faith pushed Buffy back, causing her to lose her grip. Faith swung her right fist, smacking her across the face. Buffy punched back, hitting Faith in the lip. Faith took another swing, but was blocked as Buffy grabbed her wrists. They both struggled. Faith pushed Buffy back against a shelf of books. A few fell to the floor. Buffy threw her head out and smashed it into Faith's face. Faith fell backwards and hit the floor. Buffy advance towards her, but was stopped by Angel as he jumped in the way, grabbing Buffy's arm and pushing her back.

"Stop, both of you!" Angel said. "Buffy, get a hold of yourself!"

"What's going on, Faith?" Buffy said, venom dripping from her voice at Faith's name. "What did you do with Willow and Giles?"

"Listen, Miss Animosity, the place was a wreck when I got here. You might still not have included the word 'bygones' in your dictionary, but I'm here to help out, whether you believe me or not." Faith replied.

"What's with the bloody knife, then?" Buffy asked, still not putting her guard down.

"Tall, dark and handsome here has a whole shelf, full of a nice selection of trinkets. And since I'm not a broadsword kinda gal, I took a dagger, less storage room needed. I ran into this weird werewolf-looking demon on my way over here and I had to put him down."

"You were at the hotel?" Angel asked.

"Yeah, Wesley showed up and said you guys might of needed help. But seeing as Lethally Blonde here is all pumped up, I don't think he knew what he was talking about. I drove all the way out here in your friend's truck, Charles Gunn. It ran out of gas a couple blocks down and I walked the rest of the way until I found this place. Wesley told me you guys stayed here."

"No wonder that truck looked so familiar." Angel said to himself.

"Oh yeah, well I guess Wesley was wrong after that. We don't need your help, Faith." Buffy said.

"Look B, I'm just as excited about me being here as you are, but I owe you all a favor and the least I can do is help. Plus I'm already out now. I already just added at least ten more years to my sentence, so might as well save the world in the process."

"She's right, Buffy." Angel said.

Buffy thought for a moment.

_We could use the help right now_

She thought, giving in.

"Fine." She sighed.

"Great. Let's get it shakin. What do we do next?"

"I don't know. Giles and the others are missing. I guess the first plan is to find where they're at. I say we spread out, hit some of the spots Laibach or anyone else might keep them. I'll go check the area by the Hellmouth. Faith, you should go…"

"That was Fred. They're all at Giles' place." Angel said, hanging up his phone.

"Okay. That was easy." Buffy said.

"Let's go." Faith said.


	10. Reunited

"What in the _hell_ is she doing here!" Willow demanded, getting up from the couch.

Everyone else got up as well, surprised to see Faith follow behind Buffy through the front door to Giles' apartment.

"Faith. G-glad to see you back in town." Giles said, hiding his surprise as well.

"Well I'm not!" Willow shot. "We're already all tied up trying to stop another apocalypse. The last thing we need right now is you going around messing everything up and, and, and killing people!"

"Whoa there, Will," Xander whispered in her ear. "Way to have an outburst."

"You think?" Willow whispered back, looking at Xander, smiling.

"Yeah, a lot of rage," he replied.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah."

"Yeah!" Willow snarled, pointing a finger at Faith, daringly. "I have a lot of rage!"

"Chill out, Will, I'm playing on your team now." Faith replied.

"Now, lets n-not jump to hasty conclusions. I I'm sure there is a logical reason for all this." Giles said.

"No! I agree with Willow." Cordelia said. "Just because she decides to lock herself up doesn't mean we can just all forget how she tried to kill us all. Or did you forget about all the crap she caused even after you knocked her out. She even had the nerve to bring it over to my neck of the woods. I remember the last time I ran into you and I still have the painkillers to prove it!"

"Cordy, that was awhile ago. She's changed, remember? She's just here to help." Angel replied.

"Yeah, I'm sure she decided to take time off her incarceration to give us all an extra hand."

"Look, Cor, like I told Buffy earlier, I know what I did and right now I'm still trying to make up for that. I'm here to help you all whether you like it or not. Wesley said you guys would need help and I'm here to do that. I'm not saying we all have to hold hands and braid each other's hair or nothin', but for now just put up with it."

"Ok, whatever." Cordelia sighed. "But whatever plan we have coming up, I'm already voting not to be on her team." She said, sitting down.

"I'm good too." Willow said. "I'm just gonna go on now and regard you with a steely gaze." She frowned and squinted in a menacing, yet unconvincing way.

"Anyone else got a problem with this? Cause we can either save the world or continue arguing over why we have an extra person in the group." Buffy said.

Everyone remained quiet. Xander shifted uncomfortably. Giles began idly rubbing at his glasses. Everyone still appeared to be bothered by Faith's arrival, but for now it looked like no one was going to say anything else about it.

"And I was just about to have a seat and heat up a little popcorn. This was getting good." Spike said. "But I guess its all on to the boring part where we just sit here and pout all bleedin' night when Laibach is out running everything."

"Spike, you want to get back out there?" Buffy asked, turning to him. "Because you're more than welcome to let us find a way to put an end to all this while Laibach is out kicking your ass."

Spike glared back at her, then sighed.

"Fine."

"So, I see the gang's all here." Faith said. "How's it going, Xand?"

"Hey Faith." Xander waved nervously.

"What's wrong with you?" Buffy asked him.

"He's just nervous because he remembered when I rocked his world. I bet sex hasn't been the same since that night, huh Xand?"

"Faith, if you plan on staying here with all your parts intact, you should try to not mention that as much as possible." Willow said, this time sounding like she truly meant it.

"Damn, Red's got fire. Didn't mean to step on your toes."

"Faith." Buffy said, warning clear in her voice.

"Sorry, B. Just trying to lighten the mood."

"So, what have you guys found?" Buffy asked, attempting to change the subject.

"Well, um, the portal will quite possibly require a symbol and incantation of some kind." Giles said, putting his glasses back on. "It will take a great deal of magick due to the sheer magickal ability it took to open it in the first place, and we would need to find a way to destroy the shroud covering the sky and bring about daylight."

"So you haven't found anything?" Buffy asked.

"No." Giles said, sheepishly.

"All the books we've looked through don't have anything about the dimension Laibach came from." Willow added. "We don't even know the name of it, or even if it has a name."

"Batal." Spike said.

"What?" Angel asked.

"Batal. Laibach told me all about it back when he had me running errands for him to set The Master free to get the portal open, nasty place. That black shroud covering the sky blocking out the sun? That's used to protect the demons from sunlight. In their world, the sun doesn't exist. Once the portal closes, the shroud will go with it, but the nasties remain. But since they won't be used to the sun they would most likely perish like any plain vampire."

"And you're just now telling us this because?" Xander said.

"Slipped my mind, I guess. Got too wrapped up with the mess out in the street."

"Oh, I almost forgot, Wesley sent me this book to give to you guys. He figured you'd need it." Faith said. "I'll go grab it."

She ran out the door, to return shortly after, holding a dark brown leather-bound book. She handed it over to Giles.

"He said you might find what you're looking for in there."

"T-thank you, Faith." Giles said.

"Don't mention it."

"That's the same book we used to open the portal to Pylea." Angel said, studying it. "It contains a bunch of different rituals to open up gateways to various hell dimensions."

"Great. Do you think Batal would be mentioned in here somewhere?" Giles asked.

"We can hope."

"I'll check through it." Willow said, snatching the book out of Giles' hands.

"So what happened to you guys back at the Magic Box? When we got there, the place was a wreck." Buffy asked.

"We were attacked." Cordelia answered.

"Attacked?"

"Yeah, it was pretty scary." Fred added. "This group of vampires came after us. And after we dusted them these weird lizard-looking demons in robes snuck in and took us all down."

"That was until Willow went all Sissy Spacek on them. You should have seen it." Xander said.

"Will, I thought you lost your powers?" Buffy asked, amused.

"I thought so too. I guess I had it in me all along. Turns out, magick isn't just something you can take away. It's a part of me."

"Well that's a good thing cause it looks like you're gonna need it." Cordelia said, glancing at a page in the book. "Listen to this: 'In order to open and close the gateway to Batal, one would need to use the Symbol of Tedarke, unless the person performing the ritual is a native of the dimension, whom would only have to recite the incantation, as opposed to having to draw the symbol on a surface and sit upon it before reciting it.' Here, take a look."

She handed the book to Willow. The Tedarke symbol was drawn on the page, the words to the ritual underneath it.

"Well, at least the incantation isn't that long. I could probably memorize it."

"Turn to the next page." Cordelia replied.

Willow turned the page to see the next two pages covered in text.

"Oh…" she said, disheartened.

"Do you think you're up for it?" Xander asked.

"I don't know, I mean, it's a lot. It's gonna take me awhile to memorize it."

"I mean, magick-wise."

"Oh, I guess so. I mean, I have no other choice do I? I just need some time to prepare. I need a place to perform it."

"Why not right here?" Xander asked.

"On my carpet?" Giles asked.

"It's the safest place. The book says we can use anything to form the symbol, I just need it big enough for me to get in the center. We just sprinkle some salt down to make it." Willow said.

"And I ask again: on my carpet?"

"Don't worry, we'll clean it up." Xander said.

Giles sighed heavily.

"I suppose."

"We still haven't figured out a way to kill Laibach." Buffy said. "I mean, once this portal closes, the sun might kill him, but what if it doesn't? What if he's too powerful?"

"There's another way." Faith said, speaking up.

"What is it?" Angel asked.

"Well, I kinda forgot to mention this to you guys. But when I got here, I ran into Lilah, that bitch from that law firm in L.A. I rescued her from this crazy vampire. She looked pretty beat up too. But anyways, before she left, she mentioned something called the 'Tedarke Dagger'. She said that would kill him."

"Lilah." Angel said, anger in his voice. "I told her not to come out here."

"Who's Lilah?" Buffy asked.

"I'll explain later." Angel replied. "Did she say anything else about it?"

"No. She was just all like 'use the dagger to kill him. Screw you guys, I'm going home.'"

"Damn, Faith. You've just been glowing with info since you got here. Color me impressed." Buffy said.

"Hey, like I said, I'm here to help."

Buffy smiled.

"Well I'm glad. But I still don't like you, and, and, you fight like a little girl."

"Touché. But you gotta admit, I had you there for a second."

"You wish, if Angel wouldn't have pulled me off I would of…"

Giles cleared his throat loudly, interrupting the girls.

"Thank you, Faith. We will begin researching that. Until then..."

"Found it." Fred interrupted.

"Hmm? Already? How did you find it?" he asked, incredulously.

"I looked at the index." She replied.

"…Right. What do you have?"

"It says that the 'Tedarke Dagger, as well as the Tedarke Talisman, were forged in early 1600s by a small cult of warlocks known as the Tedarkes. These warlocks were linked to the realm of Batal and like all of the beings that existed in that realm, were greatly afraid of the beast known as Laibach. Laibach was the most powerful demon in that realm. The Tedarkes forged both the dagger and the talisman to keep Laibach from coming to Earth and creating a bridge that would merge Batal with this world. One of the sorcerers, known as Matereani, who was also a skilled necromancer, decided to turn against his cult as use the artifacts for more selfish purposes. He massacred his entire clan and took over the dagger and the talisman, gaining control over Laibach and thus becoming the most powerful being in Batal, gaining immortality. He still holds the Tedarke Talisman and the Tedarke Dagger to this day.'"

"So if the dagger and the talisman were created to stop him from taking over the world, why has he already came back twice to do it?" Xander asked.

"Do I have to tell you all everything?" Spike said. "When Laibach came to me a few years ago, he was here under the influence of Matereani. I took Drusilla to a warlock after she started acting weirder than usual, and he told me that Laibach had taken her over, and wanted me to get in contact with Matereani so we could raise The Master and bring about the end of the world. It's obvious that Matereani still wanted to go ahead with Laibach's plan. But now with the dagger and the talisman he would have control."

"This Matereani guy," Buffy started, "I remember Faith and I ran into him underneath the cemetery. He had the Tedarke talisman and that's what we used to get rid of Laibach. I don't think he had the dagger, I don't remember. But we killed him. How are we supposed to get the dagger?"

"Good question," Giles said. "I don't know how he could be back, although Laibach's return could hint at Matereani's interference."

"But if Matereani is really dead," Angel said, "that would mean Laibach has free roam so he's able to merge Batal without Matereani on his back. Also, he's much more powerful now so he wouldn't even need his help in the first place." Angel said.

"Plus, that would explain Drusilla's involvement in all this. Giles said. "It appears that she wasn't possessed in the first place, seeing as Tara ended up being the one with Laibach inside her. Its possible that Laibach was able to get in touch with her, and using magick, was able to fool everyone into believing she was Laibach so she could get close enough to the Tedarke Talisman and destroy it so that none of us would be able to use it against him again."

"Well, it sure as hell did work." Willow said, miserably. It was apparent to everyone how bad she was feeling.

"Willow, you couldn't have known. Neither one of us knew what was going on." Buffy said.

"You're right." She sighed. "I guess right now the best I can do is do what I can to get this portal closed and hope for the best."

"I have faith in you, Will." Buffy said smiling.

"So what now?" Faith asked. "How are we supposed to get this dagger if we already killed him?"

"That I'm afraid, we don't have an answer for. The best we can do is hang tight until we come up with a solid solution." Giles said.

"We should head out, and try to put a stop to more demons until we come up with something. Angel said. "Buffy?"

"Yeah, sure. But first I need to show Faith something." Buffy said, looking at her.

"What is it?" she asked, getting up.

"Over here." Buffy replied, walking over to the weapons chest.

Faith followed her over. Buffy opened the chest and reached towards the bottom, pulling out something wrapped in a red scarf. Buffy took the scarf off. In her hand, she held the dagger that was given to her by Mayor Wilkins, the same knife Buffy stabbed her with those years ago.

Faith jumped back as Buffy brought the knife towards her. Buffy froze and gave her a strange look.

"What's wrong with you?" Buffy asked.

"Sorry." Faith said sheepishly. "Just, bad memories, you know?"

"Do I ever." Buffy replied. "Here. I kept it after graduation. I want you to have it."

"Thanks, B." she said, taking the knife. "Not gonna be much to me afterwards though. I don't think the cops are gonna let this through when they send me back."

"Oh yeah, forgot about that. But I'm just giving it back so you can get some use out of it while you're here at least. And, also as a peace offering. I appreciate you're help. I mean, you did try to ruin my life and murder my friends, and I may never forgive you for that, but for now, I think I can stand the sight of you."

Faith gave a small laugh. Buffy laughed back. They both remained silent for a minute.

"So, are you hating this little moment as much as I am?" Faith asked.

"Oh yeah."

"Ready to just go do this?"

"Way ahead of you."

"Hey." Xander said, sitting next to Cordelia.

"Hey." She said, looking up from the book. "What's up?"

"Well, you know, typical Tuesday night. Sunnydale on the brink of another apocalypse."

"Huh, yeah. Don't I remember those." She replied. "Can't say it's any different in L.A though."

"Yeah. He said, his voice trailing off.

Cordelia could tell how uncomfortable he was feeling. She put the book down.

"Xander. Look at me." She said. Xander looked up at her. "Don't worry about me. Whatever the two of us had in high school, is over. I'm over you now and moving on with my life, and you should too. I'm not saying that you haven't seeing as how you're getting married to Anya soon, but don't let me being here change all that. You are a real sweet guy, Xander, and she sees that in you…I see that in you. And if things were different, I could still see myself being with you. But you're about to get married and start a family and you shouldn't be worried about me just because I decided to show up. I want you to be happy."

Xander gave a small grin.

"Yeah. I guess I've just been worried about it for a while, even before you came. Even though I'm still excited about the wedding, at the same time, I'm afraid. I don't know if I'm ready for a commitment. I don't know what kind of husband I would be…what kind of father I would be. It's just that now that you are here I look at what we had. I made a huge mistake as a boyfriend to you and I'm afraid what kind of mistake I would make with Anya."

"Well, you know, at least you guys can now find civil solutions to your problems," Cordelia said. "It's not like if she gets mad at you, she can just call up her old boss at Vengeance Inc., get her powers back, and go around waiting for someone to wish you dead. But anyway,you know what I think you should do? I think you should…get Giles, quick!"

"What's wrong?" he asked.

Cordelia moaned in pain and grabbed her head. Xander jumped up from the couch just as the rest of the group came rushing over. Giles and Angel rushed to her aid.

"Fred, go get something for her!" Angel yelled.

"I have Tylenol in the bathroom over there." Giles said, pointing.

Angel grabbed Cordelia's arms.

"Cordy, what is it?"

"In…in the cemetery."

"What's in the cemetery?" Angel asked.

Fred came over with aspirin and a glass of water. Cordelia took them and popped in the aspirin, taking a big gulp of water.

"This ugly, ugly demon. He had blue skin and metal arms and legs. He was floating above the ground."

"Matereani." Buffy said. "He's alive."

"How is that possible?" Willow asked.

"Doesn't the word 'immortality' mean anything to you people?" Spike said. "Apparently, you didn't kill the sod the last time. Once you killed him, he was sent to Batal. He earned the right to immortality after killing his people and getting a hold of the talisman, and the dagger. Those sods Malik and Scylla earned it too for helping him massacre the cult. I would have earned it myself, if the plan had worked in the first place, before Willow sent him away."

"So then he's still around." Giles said.

"So that means he has the dagger." Angel said. "Cordelia's vision was probably meant to warn us that we can get a hold of the dagger. We can still kill Laibach."

"Great. Then we go after him." Buffy said.

"I'm going with you." Angel said.

"Uh, that may not be such a good idea." Willow said. "I'm gonna go ahead with the spell. And if it works, and Spike is right, then the shroud will disappear and the sun will come back out since it's like 7am now. I don't want you to go all poof."

"He's already _all poof_," Spike said, scoffing.

Angel looked at him angrily, but before he could say anything back, Buffy interjected.

"She's right, Angel. You should stay here. Faith and I will go out and fight Matereani. We'll retrieve the dagger and go after Laibach."

"But what if you die?" he asked.

"And what if _you_ die?" she replied. "If you come with me and Willow's spell works, the sun will kill you, Angel."

"But, Buffy…"

"Angel, we don't have time. We've already wasted lord knows how long trying to figure out what to do. Stay here. I'll be fine."

Buffy turned to leave, but stopped when she felt a pull on her arm. She turned around just as Angel pulled her back and gave her a long kiss. After a moment, they drew back slowly

"Be careful." He said.

"Always."

Buffy stepped back and went back over to the weapons chest. She pulled out a crossbow and tossed it to Faith. She reached back in and pulled out a long "F" shaped knife.

"Damn, where did you get that from?" Faith asked.

"I got this baby from another Hell dimension I visited in L.A a few years ago. I believe it was forged by a group of warriors in that realm who kept humans as slaves."

"Impressive." Faith said.

"Oh, that's a Hunga Munga." Giles said. "Also known as an 'African Throwing Knife'. They're mainly in Northern and Eastern Africa and are mainly used for clearing brushes and butchering animals."

"Oh." Buffy said, sheepishly. "But they're still cool."

"Good luck, Buffy." Willow said.

"Thanks, Will. Good luck with the spell. And don't worry about Tara. She'll be okay. Once this is all over. I'm positive."

Willow gave a small wave as Buffy turned and followed Faith out the door.


	11. Splitting Up

"So, what cemetery are we looking for anyways?" Faith asked.

"I don't know. Cordelia just said 'the cemetery'. With so many people dying daily here in Sunnydale we can't make do with just one. Maybe we should call back, see if she can get anything else out of the vision."

A bolt of blue energy shot up towards the sky in the distance. It crackled in the air for a few seconds before dissipating.

"I'm gonna pull a guess out the air and say that's the one we're lookin' for." Faith said. "You think that's our guy?"

"Only one way to find out." Buffy said.

The two of them took off towards the nearest cemetery, where the crackle seemed to have came from. It was the same cemetery Spike had taken residence in. When they got up to the front gate, they found it already open. Buffy walked in first, Faith following closely behind. They snuck through the graveyard. Faith grabbed Buffy's arm and pulled her back.

"Buffy, look." She said, pointing.

Up ahead, was Matereani, in the flesh….and metal. He was standing near a grave, whispering something that they could not make out.

"So what's the plan?" Faith asked. "I mean, do we just go out and start throwing down, snatch his dagger, kill him, and leave?"

Buffy thought for a moment.

"Pretty much."

She walked up ahead, exposing herself.

"You look lost." Buffy said. "What happened? Did Laibach leave you in the dust this time?"

Matereani stopped his chant and turned to her. Faith came up from behind her.

"The Slayers." he said in a deep, throaty voice.

"Yeah, that's us." Faith said. "So…how are things? Haven't seen you around in awhile."

"Laibach is a fool. He has deceived me and gone about his own way to bring about the destruction of the earth. He has become powerful over the years since the witch sent him away, back to his home realm. I've come back to control him."

"To stop him from keeping the power to himself, you want power too, blah, blah, blah. Can we just skip to the fighting now?" Buffy sighed. "Skip the 'bad guy tells why he shares a common enemy' cliché. We've looked up on you, and I'm pretty sure you're not here to help me after driving that candlestick through your abdomen. Me and Faith, here, are here to kill you because your friend Laibach has been pretty much making this day miserable for us all. And we here you have just what we need to stop him."

"Buffy!" Faith yelled suddenly.

Buffy spun around just as Laibach gave her a strong punch in the chest that sent her flying. He turned towards Faith and fired a glowing red sphere. The projectile flew towards her. Faith ducked out of the way as it barely missed her, striking the ground where she once stood.

"Take care of the Slayers all you like, Matereani." Laibach said. "I destroyed the talisman in hopes of getting rid of you. But since you're here, at least make your presence profitable. Perhaps I'll have a bit of power in store for you if you participate in their demise."

Buffy sat up painfully. She looked over at Laibach as he turned into a puff of smoke. A black cloud hovered above the cemetery and began to take off. Buffy stared, unsure if she should chase after him.

"Buffy, go!" Faith yelled. "I'll take care of the dagger. Stop Laibach from getting in the way."

"Are you sure you can handle it?" Buffy asked.

"I've fought girls in the yard that look tougher than this guy. Just keep Laibach busy. I'll meet you up there later."

Buffy gave her a respectful nod. Faith nodded back. Buffy jumped to her feet and ran out the cemetery. She turned towards the direction Laibach's cloud went, giving chase.

Faith stood in front of Matereani, fearless. She had total confidence against Matereani. She had defeated him before. Matereani suddenly leaped backwards, floating in mid-air as he extended his forearms. He glided up to the top of a mausoleum.

"Aw come on. I thought you had learned your lesson last time. What you didn't get enough of an ass-whooping or something?" she taunted.

Matereani said nothing. He just stared down at her and smiled. Faith began to feel a little nervous.

"What, got nothing to say? Huh?"

She knew it was bad if they didn't talk trash because that meant they wouldn't bluff.

Out of nowhere she was slapped from the back. It was then she remembered where she was. She turned around, fist ready and swung at the zombie's head. The head exploded into viscous matter. The zombie's body fell limp to the ground. The ground beneath her began to ease as another zombie worked his way out of its grave. She waited until it stuck its head out the ground and she goal kicked it off the zombie's shoulders.

"...And she scores!"

"You think you can just mock me like that." Matereani said.

He raised his arms stretching his fingers wide toward the sky. He was struck by lighting and he redirected it into many fragments with his fingers. All the rays impacted the ground as more zombies began to emerge. Faith was surrounded.

---

Angel watched in the corner as the rest of the gang set up the spell. No one even seemed to notice he was there except for Fred, who would look up at him from time to time, grinning. She was a real sweet girl. Angel had taken a liking to her every since he ran into her in Pylea. She seemed to seek comfort in him. She had been following him around a lot since he brought her back.

The furniture in the apartment had been moved around in preparation for the spell. Cordelia and Xander were pouring salt down on the carpet, and shaping it into the Tedarke symbol. It wasn't all that big, but it was big enough to where Willow could sit in the middle of it. Giles and Fred were setting and lighting candles around the symbol, while Willow was studying the incantation. Spike was standing behind the counter, sipping on a cup of pig's blood.

He couldn't help worrying about Buffy. Although he was sure she could take care of herself, especially with Faith at her back, he couldn't stand sitting there like this. He could at least help with the spell, but there was nothing for him to do.

"This is just bloody terrific." Spike said. "We should be out there. Not sitting here like a bunch of sodding wallflowers."

It was like Spike was reading his mind. He thought for a moment.

_Maybe I should just go out there and help them. Who cares what Buffy says? Whatever happens to me beats the hell out of sitting here, waiting for something to happen._

"Then let's go." Angel said.

"What? You heard what Buffy said. We go out there, and we're dust."

"See? I told you you're always drooling behind her. Following everything that she says."

"Like you're one to talk!" Spike retorted. "If remember correctly, you were the one following behind her like a bloody puppy dog before you left. Even then, as soon as she calls you, you come running out here the first chance you get."

"I was in love with Buffy. I still am, and you know that. What's your excuse, Spike?"

Spike remained quiet for a moment, then sighed.

"Let's get out of here." He said.

"Hand me a sword."

Spike grabbed a sword over by the chest. They headed for the door.

"Where ya going?" Cordelia asked.

"We're, um…going back to my crypt, hang out a bit." Spike said.

"With a big ole sword?" Xander asked.

"Yeah, just in case we run into trouble along the way." Angel answered.

"K, have fun." Cordelia said.

"Bye, Angel." Fred said, waving.

"Bye."

Angel and Spike headed out.

---

Buffy continued running down the street, the dark cloud still floating up ahead. Laibach must have known she was chasing him, making sharp turns and shortcuts to try and lose her. She ran into several demons along the way. She rushed past them, determined to keep Laibach from getting to Willow or finding a way to prevent Faith from getting the dagger.

The cloud reached the front of the broken down building of Sunnydale High, and disappeared. He was going to the Hellmouth. She ran inside. She walked through the rubble of the halls of the high school once passed. So far, no sign of him.

She walked into the library, glancing around. She quieted her breathing, using her senses to look out for any shift in the air, a footstep, anything.

A hard blow suddenly struck her in the back. Her body flew through the air, smashing against the wall on the far side. She felt something in her back pop. She clenched her teeth in pain.

_I gotta stop falling for that._

She sat up, and placed her back against the wall, turning to face Laibach. He stood in the center of the room.

"Slayer." He said, glaring at her.

---

"Did she even say what cemetery?" Spike asked as they walked.

"Nope. I didn't even think to ask."

"So where in the bloody hell are we walking if you don't even know where to go?"

"Just shut up and follow, Spike."

"Which one are we going to?"

"Whatever one we run into first." Angel answered.

"You don't know where we're going, do you?"

Angel stopped suddenly. He had a weird expression on his face.

"What?"

"Do you smell that?"

Spike smelled it too.

"Blood." He answered.

"It's coming from over there." Angel said, nodding towards the construction sight they were standing by.

"Yeah, well there have been several killings in the past hours. I wouldn't be surprised if it was a few people who were just unlucky tonight." Spike said.

He tried to walk ahead, but Angel stopped him, holding his hand out.

"Let's go check it."

Spike sighed.

"We don't have time for this dross. You got me out here, so let's go find Buffy."

His words fell on deaf ears as Angel leaped over the chain fence of the site.

"Bloody hell." Spike said. He followed after him.

Spike caught up with Angel off to the side of the building, right by a large garbage bin. He was kneeling over something. Spike looked down to see two corpses slumped on the ground. Both of them appeared to be night watchmen.

Angel turned the head of one of them over. Two little bloody holes were in his neck.

"Vampire." He whispered.

It was then Spike noticed a shadow dart across the unfinished building up above.

"What is it?" Angel asked, standing up.

Spike held a finger up, and started walking towards it. Angel followed behind.

A figure suddenly landed in front of them, and kicked out at Spike just as he turned around, causing him to fly backwards.

"Spike!" Angel yelled, as he started to give chase.

A sharp pain erupted from his chest, and staggered against the building. He looked down to see a stake planted in his chest, just above his heart. He looked up just to catch a blow to the face as another figure elbowed him in the chin. He fell onto his back. The figure planted their foot onto his stomach, their sharp heel digging into him. He looked up at the figure to see Scylla glaring down at him, the same vampire that Buffy encountered at the mansion when Angel had been kidnapped by Spike. Angel and her had never met, but Buffy described her well enough for him to recognize her.

"Angelusss." She said in a snaky, seductive voice. "Sssso glad to finally meet you."

She reached down and grabbed the stake, yanking it out. Angel screamed out at the searing pain. His features contorted into his demon form. He grabbed a hold of her leg and pushed it off. She stumbled back, but regained her footing. Angel jumped up and faced her.

"The pleasure's all mine."

He gave her a quick jab to the face. Scylla hissed and came back towards him. He gave her a few more quick punches, striking her in her chest.

Spike felt his ribs crack as he landed on the hard ground. He coughed painfully and wrapped his right arm across his chest as he looked up to see his attacker. To his surprise, there stood Malik. Spike had ran with him the last time Laibach was in town. Apparently, the sod was immortal too. Spike remembered killing him after he attacked Buffy a few years back.

"Good evening Spike. I want to thank you for killing me earlier, such a release. Allow me to return the favor."

"Piss off!" Spike yelled.

Malik picked Spike off the ground, raising him above his head. With little effort, he threw Spike into the building. Spike crashed through the wood frame, landing painfully into a stack of lumber.

Spike struggled to get up. It felt like every bone is his body had broken. He almost felt like giving up right there, but there was no way in all hell he was going to do it.

Spike's face morphed into its vampire features. He jumped up from the ground, and turned towards Malik. To his surprise, Malik wasn't there.

"You trying to pull a fast one on the Big Bad, eh?" Spike taunted.

He reached down a picked up a shovel that was lying on the ground. He walked out of the building and looked around. Angel was up ahead, struggling with Scylla. Apparently she had showed up too. They had gained immortality after working with Matereani to gain control over Batal. Not that they didn't already have it, being vampires and all. But Spike heard that once they died, they would be sent to the realm where they would remain. But because of current issue with Laibach returning, they were free.

Spike looked up just in time to see a giant cat leap from the top of the building. Malik had morphed into his animal form. Spike ducked out of the way, dodging the attack. He stood up to face Malik just as he disappeared. Malik suddenly reappeared in front of him, and smacked him with a huge paw. Spike fell backwards. Smacking his head on the ground. He watched as Malik came in for the kill.

Angel came in with another jab, but was caught off guard as Scylla grabbed his hand, and came in with a swift head butt. Angel stumbled back, just as Scylla jumped up and planted both of her heels into his chest. Angel flew backwards, crashing against the dumpster. He watched in horror as Scylla's features began to contort. Her mouth widened, and he body began to lengthen. Her legs blended together and stretched, becoming serpent-like. Her whole body was that of a huge snake, save for her upper torso which remained intact, and her claw-like appendages. Angel reached behind him and took out his sword. It was about to get messy.

---

Laibach turned around to one of the walls. One of the loose pipes began wiggling in its spot. Buffy knew what he was about to do. She was already on her feet as the pipe loosened from its place on the wall and came sailing in her direction. Buffy rolled out of the way. The pipe missed her by a mere inch, and went into the wall near which she once stood.

Buffy found her throwing knife on the ground where she rolled to. She must have dropped it when Laibach performed that sneak attack on her. She picked up the knife, and threw it in his direction.

_Please let it cause _some _damage to him._

The knife suddenly froze in front of him, spinning in mid-air. Laibach jerked his head, and sent it flying back towards her. Buffy reacted quickly. She performed a roundhouse kick, her foot connecting with the knife as soon as it reached her, knocking it out the way.

A bright red glow emitted from Laibach's hands. He shot his hands forward, sending a sphere of energy towards her direction. Buffy jumped out of the way, as it struck the wall behind her. Part of the wall came crumbling down.

Another red projectile was fired at her, but Buffy wasn't so quick. She hadn't had time to register the second attack before the ball smashed into her gut. Her legs buckled underneath her and she fell to the ground. Her whole body felt numb. She began twitching uncontrollably.

Suddenly, she felt her body being lifted off the floor, and tossed across the room, hitting the far wall. Buffy screamed out in pain. She felt another magnetic tug at her body, and she was shot up into the air, hitting the ceiling. The ceiling crumbled on impact and came crashing down. Buffy fell along with the rubble. Wood and concrete landing on top of her.

She sat there painfully as Laibach smirked and made his way over to her. She was finished.

---

Faith stomped on top of the fallen zombie's spine, awarded with a soft brittle snap. The zombie moaned, and effortless attempted to grab her ankle. She kicked out at it. His torso went flying, crashing into another group of zombies that were making there way over to her.

Faith reeked of death. So far, she had taken out over half a dozen of them, and at least a good four dozen were still making their way over to her. She had dropped her crossbow somewhere, and there were too many zombies to go off looking for it. Up above the roof of the crypt, Matereani stood hovering, watching as Faith struggled.

Faith felt a sudden blow to the face. She stumbled back and faced her attacker. It was another zombie. He appeared to be a bald, middle-aged man. Faith could tell he died recently. There was hardly any signs of decay save for the rotting flesh that hung from his neck. The zombie held a bony leg of another corpse in his hand.

"Gross!" Faith yelled.

Faith punched the zombie in the face. The zombie moaned and advanced towards her quicker. She came in with another blow, but was surprised when the zombie managed to block the attack. He grabbed her arm and drew closer to her, opening his rancid mouth and reaching towards her throat. Faith was just about to counter with a head butt, when suddenly, the zombie's head snapped and fell to the ground. The zombie lost its grip, and fell limp to the ground.

Matereani stood before her. She had little time to react before he planted a hard kick to her chest. She flew back, smashing into a gravestone. Faith laid in the grass, clenching her teeth at the pain, as Matereani came at her again. He gave another hard kick to her ribs, causing her to spin the air, and land on her back. He advanced towards her, but she rolled out of the way and jumped to her feet.

"It's about damn time you came down here." Faith said.

She kicked at his head, causing him to stumble back. Matereani growled in rage and threw his fist out. Faith ducked underneath the blow, and gave him a strong punch to the chest. Matereani flew backwards smashing into the mausoleum wall.

Faith ran towards him, and came in with another strong punch. She screamed out in pain as her knuckles slammed into the hard concrete wall. She felt a sudden tug at her hair, and she was jerked down. Her head cracked into a large gravestone. Faith's vision blurred. An intense pain shot out through her face and started spreading across her body. She fell to the grass limp. She could feel herself drifting in and out of consciousness. She saw a blue blur up above, figuring it was Matereani as it watched the zombies advance towards her.

---

Angel charged, sword ready. He swung the blade towards the snake, ready to slice her in half, but she was too quick. With one swift swipe, Scylla knocked the sword out of his hand.

Scylla gave another quick swipe, catching him in the face. He flew backwards, landing hard on his back. He glanced over just in time to see her advancing towards him. He tucked into a roll and ducked out the way as she came charging.

Spike landed hard on the ground. It seemed like he was doing that a lot lately. He looked at the shovel to see that it was broken in two.

_Just was I needed. _

Spike leaped to his feet just in time as Malik materialized in front of him. Spike ducked down, dodging a swipe, and drove the makeshift stake in his heart. Malik screamed out in pain as the stake buried into his chest.


	12. Power Struggle

"Are you ready?" Giles asked.

Willow sat in the center of the symbol they had put together in Giles' living room. The book sat in front of her.

"Yeah." She answered. "The book doesn't say anything about having it memorized, so I'll read it out loud."

"What do we do? Just watch?" Cordelia asked.

"That's all we can do. Just stay out the way and give her room." Giles replied. "We will know the spell worked if we see daylight."

"Okay." Willow said. She took a deep breath, looking down at the words in the strange Batalian language. "Here we go."

Giles, Fred, Cordelia, and Xander waited eagerly.

"Humda Ilya schum namb eleta shepu uptpa huldi lanye iutpa yaquta. Wutpe tiopa yewqa bealm owela rupyta qistue kwau cenupi hundsa…"

---

Laibach watched in amusement as the Slayer laid in the rubble, bruised and bleeding. She sputtered out blood, looking up at him with defiant, yet almost defeated eyes.

"Is that all you got?" she challenged, getting up. "The most powerful being in all Batal, with the knowledge and power of two of the most powerful witches in the Western Hemisphere, and all you can do is throw me around. I am the Slayer, the one girl in all the world here to kick your ass. Come show me what you really got."

It was then Laibach realized something. His attention was diverted away from the Slayer's rant: a sensation, something a human would've described as a cold shiver. A voice was in the air; it was soft but determined, barely audible but thunderous to his ears.

_The witch!_

Laibach suddenly disappeared, leaving Buffy behind in the broken down building.

"Whoa, that worked?" Buffy asked, bewildered. "Didn't think that would really scare him."

With only a thought, he had left the battlefield and had transported himself to an enclosed area: a house, a living room. Before him, in the middle of a symbol that was dreadful to him, was Willow, surrounded by an aura of white, yellow and red waves that spun around her body.

"Nuwalpa fepyue daquia kimhua otwanpa chamta muiluan juliwe. Peunyu aerle fiptya bhuta dupila xuprapt yozult kumdja dehun zuiapm gyupha vemasa asmei finuna."

She was chanting a spell he had never expected the puny humans to find.

_How can she still have the strength for this defiance! I drained her completely through the other witch!_

Though the girl was loathsome to him, he was impressed at her powers; he had known she was powerful but not this much.

"Willow, watch out!" a girl's voice shouted from behind the witch.

It had been Fred who had shouted out the warning, she was standing with Giles. Xander and Cordelia were nearby, closer to Willow. Laibach's face filled with anger and disgust. He raised his hand, which became quickly wrapped in a black smoke that spun quickly around the forearm. Like the crack of thunder his voice shouted.

"Enough!"

As he lowered his arm in one quick motion, a sort of shockwave came out from it. Everybody screamed as they felt their bodies be slammed against the floor and made lie flat against it, as if gravity's pull had increased a hundred times. Their muscles tightened severely, and even attempting to move caused waves of pain to shake their bodies.

Willow stood her ground, making an enormous effort not to give in to Laibach's spell. Sweat ran down her face, and a vein could be seen bulging against her temple.

"A barrier," Laibach's voice uttered. "You are resourceful, witch. But I know the spell you are casting against me. There is no way you will be able to hold both. Concentrating on closing the portal to Batal will drain power from your shielding spell, and you will not be able to close the portal while you desperately try to keep your barrier from breaking as I'm trying to tear you to pieces!"

Just like that, Laibach started to attack the barrier. White flashes exploded from it with the impact of each attack. Willow tried her best to continue chanting the spell, but it was obvious that her concentration was being broken and her strength was waning.

"Willow!" Xander shouted.

He laid face-down on the floor, unable to move. The very action of shouting made his entire body hurt. Willow was in trouble, he could see her weakening. She was still weak from when she had been drained by Laibach, everything rested on her shoulders. Closing the portal, destroying the shroud, and giving Buffy and the others a chance at victory. It seemed unfair to him to load up so much weight on her. He wanted to go over there and help her carry the load, even if he knew he couldn't even dream of being as powerful as her, he still felt it was his responsibility to protect her.

A scream was heard, and Xander realized it was his own as he forced his body to move. Unbearable pain coursed through his body. He clenched his jaw, his face became red, and he felt as though he was going to faint, but he didn't, he couldn't, for Willow. And what was his plan? What _could _he do to help her? If Willow, with all her power, was succumbing to Laibach, what could he do that would be of any use to her?

_Only one thing: Try. _

The best he could do was try.

His body felt as if it were coming apart at the seams. He could feel his muscle tissue tearing and bleeding in him. He clawed at the floor, forcing himself forward. He looked at Willow, she was close to giving up, Laibach's barrage of punches and scratches did not stop. For a second he saw her as that girl with the very long hair, pleased dress, long white stockings and naïve look in her eyes that he had known. How much she had grown since.

She was losing it. She was giving in. Laibach was attacking her with all his strength.

_Too late. Too late! _

Xander's hand stretched toward her.

_Too late!_

"Willow!"

His fingers closed around her hand, and he saw Willow's back arch forward and she gasped, as if she had been stabbed in the back. Xander felt as if all the blood in his body was running toward his hand and flowing out of his fingers into Willow. He felt dizzy, weak.

The last thing he saw before blacking out was an enormous wave of luminous energy explode from around Willow. Her hair suddenly became jet black. She was now standing up, encased in a sphere of light.

"Sefina tumiya simklu cilmha pemape selaset wuhta joupth naliem kyalua pirtqua velorm ewyua gupenal iumlpe humlai vaquti imbta!"

Her chanting had become shouting. She was shouting out the spell. Her oily black eyes displaying anger and resolution. Xander lay unconscious at her feet. The entire house shook. Laibach screamed, shielding his face, and he disappeared in a cloud of black smoke.

The sphere dissipated. A huge wind blew across the room, blowing out all the candles. A light cracked through the blinds: daylight.

Willow fell to the ground, tired. Her hair returned to its normal color. She gave an exhausted laugh. The spell had worked. She glanced around the room to see the rest of the gang lying stiff on the floor, glancing up at her.

"Why is everyone just lying around?" she asked, incredulously.

She then saw Xander lying unconscious at her feet, a reddish burn in his palm, and her heart sunk in gratitude.

To Laibach's surprise, he had been transported back to the place where the Slayer still stood. The witch had repelled him. Where had she gotten the strength to do so? She had been so close to caving in and being crushed under his mighty hand.

It was then he noticed daylight coming through the hole in the roof, and through the windows of the building. The witch had won.

He turned to towards the Slayer, who stood there looking around as well.

"You!" he shouted.

He threw his hand out, conjuring up a spell which would send a bolt straight through the Slayer's heart, killing her instantly. To his dismay, nothing happened. The Slayer smirked at him and ran up. Laibach threw a punch, which was instantly blocked. She brought back both hands and palmed him hard on the chest. Laibach stumbled backward.

"Looks like you're not all powerful and untouchable anymore." The Slayer remarked. "Come and get me."


	13. Regrouping

The visions continued to haunt her dreams. She could see it: Buffy, and a dark-haired girl, were in a cemetery, staring at this ugly blue-skinned demon. A large, red-skinned demon came up from behind Buffy, knocking her back. It had to be Laibach. Now Buffy was giving chase. The dark-haired girl stayed behind.

The other demon floats in the air and unleashes a crack of energy which strikes the ground behind her. The undead begin to come out of the earth. The girl fights back. She is strong. Almost as strong as Buffy. There was another Slayer, Faith, if she recalled. She was in prison, but the girl had on a jumpsuit so it must be her.

The battle raged on. The demon came down to bring Faith down, but she fights back. The demon is faster; he brings her down, almost knocking her out cold. Zombies start clawing for her. She's done for. Meanwhile, the battle between Buffy and Laibach continued in the remains of Sunnydale High.

She hears a familiar voice, screaming out a weird chant somewhere in the distance, when suddenly, the sunlight cracks from the sky. The dark blanket covering the sky begins to dissipate. Something hits her, snapping her out of her vision, out of her sleep.

Tara's eyes snap open.

---

Faith felt as cold, dead hands began clawing for her, ripping her clothes, pulling her hair. She tried to fight them back, but couldn't find the strength.

A burst of light flashed suddenly in the sky, causing her to close her eyes. The zombies began to move more frantically. It wasn't until she opened her eyes that she realized that she was looking at daylight.

_Yes! Go Willow!_

She pushed back at one of the zombies latching on to her arm. The zombie's arm broke off with ease, and he fell to the ground limp. To Faith's dismay, all the other zombies followed suit. They all began to drop to the ground, breaking on impact.

Faith sat her head up, just as Matereani screamed and came flying towards her. He grabbed her neck and brought her head to the ground. She stared in horror as his face began to literally melt from his skull. He yelled in pain and disgust as his facial features melted away, getting blood and all kinds of unknown body liquids all over Faith's jumpsuit.

His grip tightened, cutting the air from her pipe. Faith gagged for air

She saw a glint on the left side of his body.

_The dagger!_

With a free hand, she snatched the dagger from the pouch at his side, and drove it into his gut. She twisted the blade. Matereani screamed in pain. His grip loosened on her neck. Faith pulled his bleeding, melting corpse off of her, and jumped up to the ground. Matereani twitched on the ground a few times, then stopped. Energy crackled around his deformed body, followed by a blast of white light, and he was gone.

Bile began to rise in her throat from the sight of Matereani's melting face near hers. She knelt over and puked on the grass.

"I can't believe I got out of prison for this." She said to herself between breaths.

She looked down at the dagger in her hand. Its hilt appeared to be carved out of bone. The face of Laibach was carved on the front. His two outer horns curved around to form the handle. His other two wrapped around the start of the metal blade.

"Not too shabby." Faith thought out loud. "Sure would have been something I would have picked up robbing a knife store. Now, if only I can find Buffy, if Laibach hasn't killed her yet."

---

Angel caught a glimmer of the sword in the corner of his eye off to left. Scylla was turning around, making her way back over to him. He ran over and picked up the sword. Scylla charged. Angel raised the blade up, prepared for her attack.

Scylla came towards him, ramming right into the blade. She screamed out as blood began to ooze from her gut, onto the sword.

"See what happens when you do the same move over and over? Eventually, I…"

Angel felt a sudden burning sensation over his body. He glanced up, just as the dark shroud slow began to disappear. Cracks of sunlight spilled out onto the construction site.

_Crap!_

"Tag, your it." Spike said, holding the stake in the cat's heart.

Corny line, he knew, but it's the first thing that came to mind. Malik let out a pained growl. Spike knew the stake didn't kill him. The last time he showed up, he had to use a long piece that went all the way through. Malik was stronger than your average vamp, so it took more to get rid of him.

"Spike!" Angel yelled, pointing up. Angel held a sword, which was pierced in Scylla's gut.

As soon as Angel yelled out, he felt his skin begin to burn. The sky became much lighter, and it was obvious that the witch had completed the spell and destroyed the shroud.

"Son of a bitch!" Spike yelled.

Panicking, Spike quickly withdrew the stake and kicked Malik backwards with strong force. The huge cat fell back, landing on the other end of the blade protruding from Scylla's back. Spike snatched his leather duster off and put it over his head. He ran for cover to the building, behind a smoking Angel. Behind him, he heard the simultaneous screams of Malik and Scylla, followed by the sound of both of them dusting as they struggled from the blade in the offending sunlight.

---

Laibach charged for her, but Buffy was quicker. She pivoted her foot and side kicked him in the chest, just as he reached her. She came back in with another kick, followed by a punch to the face. Laibach blocked another blow, and threw a fist across her face. Buffy staggered backwards, just as Laibach advanced towards her, throwing another punch. Buffy blocked it, and threw out a kick with her right foot, but was caught off guard as Laibach grabbed it with his free hand and lifted it up, causing her to fall back, onto her back.

Buffy had little time to recover before Laibach kicked out a massive foot, smashing into her side. She gasped in pain. She coughed and gripped her side, clenching her teeth. He was just too strong.

Buffy watched as he brought a massive fist up, preparing to smash her face into a pulp. Laibach stopped suddenly, and looked at his arm in surprise. There was an arrow going through his arm. He turned around to see Faith in the doorway, a crossbow in her hand.

"Knew that would get your attention, baldy." She remarked.

Laibach growled.

"The other Slayer. I thought Matereani would have gotten rid of you."

"Yeah, he sends his regards. He told me to give you this."

Faith threw the crossbow down, and reached into her pocket, pulling out a glimmering blade.

"The Tedarke dagger! Give that to me!" he raged as he began to charge for it.

"Chill, dude. It's yours. Here ya go."

Faith threw the dagger towards him. Laibach stopped dead in his place. He tried to stop the dagger, but was too late as it rammed right into his chest.

Laibach yelled out in rage. He was done for. Somehow the dark-haired Slayer was able to get a hold of the dagger, and she used it against him. He was foolish to not have killed Matereani himself and destroyed it.

He looked down at the dagger, and realized something. The hilt was different from before. He pulled it out, glancing at the blade. The blade was split down the center, very unlike the one that was crafted to destroy him. He threw it down.

"You idiot. You used the wrong one. Your mistake will cost you…"

A sharp, intense, pain struck him in the back. He looked up to see Faith beaming down at him.

"You might want to rethink that last statement." Buffy said from behind him.

"You're done, Ace." Faith smirked.

With that, Buffy twisted the blade, driving it in further into his back. Laibach gave out a thunderous yell. His crimson skin began to blacken, turning ashen. His body began to crumble away. His arms fell off, hitting the ground and crumbling on impact. Buffy backed away and watched as the rest of his body disintegrated into black dust. The wind picked up, blowing his remains around the room.

"That was it?" Buffy said. "No explosion or bells and whistles going off? Just, poof?"

"Yeah, that was pretty much a buzz kill." Faith replied. "Let's get out of here, B."

The two of them headed out, into the street.

In the distance, sirens could be heard, followed by the sound of people as they made their way out of their houses. No more inhuman screams or demons running around…for the time being, at least. Just plain old Sunnydale. Buffy wondered how the police would try to cover this up.

EPILOGUE 

"PCP." Willow said, glaring at the television.

"Figures." Buffy sighed.

The whole group stood in Giles' living room, surrounding the TV. After Laibach had been killed, the paralysis spell wore off, leaving Giles, Cordelia, Xander, and Fred with aches all over their bodies. Buffy and Faith were banged up as well. It was only Willow who appeared to have energy, as she went around tending to everybody.

"Pass those aspirin around here, Will." Xander said, holding his palm out.

"Well, at least they were a little more creative with it this time around." Giles sighed.

"Yeah, if you want to believe that a violent gang hyped up on PCP and dressed up in Halloween costumes went on a massacre that lasted over six hours without the police doing much about it." Buffy said.

"Well, we can't tell them the truth." Cordelia replied. "I guess Sunnydale hasn't changed. You would think after years of crazy stuff happening they would have figured it out by now."

"Oh well. At least it's all over." Faith said. "We kicked ass out there, B."

"Five by Five." Buffy added.

"If you wouldn't mind doing me at least one favor today; don't say that again." Faith said.

"So what happens with Laibach?" Fred asked. "I mean, he is dead this time right? He won't come back and try to open the portal again would he?"

"I'm pretty sure Laibach is indeed dead. Though not as sure Matereani is, given you've killed him before, but without Laibach, he no longer holds much of a threat. Especially stuck in Batal without either the dagger or talisman around."

"So that's that then." Buffy said.

"So Willow, what has you running around?" Xander asked. "After all that magick you did today I would have thought you would be sleeping like a baby."

"Yeah, right. Like I could sleep after all that." She replied. "All that magick gave me all the energy I needed. It was like, a rush, you know? Even Tara would have been proud."

"What happened to Tara anyway?" Buffy asked. "Is she still in a coma?"

"I don't know." Willow replied, sadly. "I called the hospital to check on her, but the phone line is busy."

"Well, with all the death and apocalypse, you would figure the hospital would be pretty tied up." Fred said.

"Yeah. But still, I'm worried about her. When I repelled Laibach, I felt her essence escape from him. I thought maybe that would bring her back."

"Tara? That's the other witch, right?" Faith asked.

"Yeah, what about her?" Willow asked.

"Well, after I killed Matereani, someone spoke to me in my head. She said her name was Tara. She said she knew what had been going on. That's how I knew where to go to find Buffy to use the dagger."

"So she's awake?" Xander asked.

There was a knock on the door.

"I'll get it." Fred said, getting up from the couch.

She limped towards the door and opened it. Anya stood in the doorway. Dawn and Tara were behind her.

"Who are you?" Anya asked her.

"Winifred. But you can call me Fred." Fred said, extending her arm out.

"Hi Fred!" Anya said, in that awkward, high-volume, tone of voice that only meant she still hadn't mastered human politeness. "Welcome to Sunnydale! Awfully skinny girls like you usually have a great time here, as they seem to be ignored by most vampires due to your low blood content."

Anya's eyes, suddenly lit up and walked past her, no longer interested in the thin Texan girl, who still couldn't process what had just happened.

"Xander!" Anya beamed.

She jumped on top of him. Xander let out a pained grunt as she landed on his sore muscles.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Dawn." Dawn said, shaking Fred's hand. She came walking in.

"Whoa, the gang's all here. Hey guys!" Dawn said, waving.

She ran up to Buffy and gave her a warm hug.

"Hey Dawn! I missed you." Buffy said, returning the embrace.

"Missed you too, sis. Did you kick any demon ass in my name?"

"Yeah. This one demon reminded me of your ex-boyfriend from last year. I told him about you before I chopped his head off."

"Good." She replied, smiling.

Tara walked through the doorway.

"Tara?" Willow said, smiling.

"Willow." Tara replied.

Willow ran up to her, and the both of them wrapped each other in a strong embrace. Willow brought Tara up to her lips and planted a huge kiss.

"I was worried about you." Willow said.

"You didn't need to be. Amazon, remember?" she said, smiling. Willow smiled back.

"You should have seen me, Tara. I shut down Batal and killed all the baddies in Sunnydale, while single-handedly defending myself against Laibach's wrath."

"I saw what you did. I felt everything going on while I was out. You are quite the witch."

"So are you." Willow replied. "And I promise, no more spells."

"You cross your heart?" Tara asked.

"Well, I don't mind making a little more magick right now. The both of us." She replied with a suggestive smile.

"Oh you mean that spell from that Hindu book you got last week." Tara said, returning the suggestive smile.

Willow turned to the group.

"We're gonna head back to the house. You guys take care. Fred and Cordy, you two have a safe trip back."

"Thanks." Cordelia replied.

"Yeah, have a good time pleasuring each other." Anya said. "Me and Xander have a plan of our own tonight."

Tara's face turned red.

"Can I banish her?" Willow asked.

"Maybe later." Buffy replied. "Take care, Will."

"You too."

Willow headed out the door. Tara followed behind with a small wave.

"Oh yeah, Faith. There are some men in police uniforms out there looking for you." Anya said. "We saw them on the way over here. They're pretty stewed."

"Right, I'm an escaped convict. Forgot about that." Faith said, nervously. "Guess I better be heading out then."

"I'll head out there with you." Buffy said, getting up.

"Peace, guys." Faith said, walking out.

Buffy and Faith walked out towards the front of the complex. A police car, followed by several others, pulled up in front of them. Half a dozen cops stepped out, cocking guns towards them. One cop in a grey-colored suit walked up to them, holding a badge.

"Faith Lehane, on behalf of the Sunnydale Police Department, I'm placing you under arrest. You will be held at the state correctional facility in Stockton. You have the right to remain silent."

Faith held her arms out without resistance as the cop attached handcuffs to her. He pulled her towards the car. The other police trained their weapons, ready for any retaliation from either one of them.

"I guess this is it, then." Faith said. "Take care of yourself, Buffy."

"Bye, Faith."

She was pushed into the car.

"Tell Angel I said bye." She said, as the door closed.

The other cops returned to their cars. Buffy watched as the car Faith was held in took off.

It was then Buffy remembered something. With all the other things going on she had completely forgotten until Faith had said something.

"Where's Angel?" she thought out loud.

---

Angel clenched his teeth, trying his best to ignore the clanking as Spike sat next to him, flicking the lid of his lighter up and down repeatedly as they sat under the shade of the building.

"Spike, will you cut that out? It's bugging the hell out of me!"

"What else am I supposed to do? I'm bored out of my bloody mind."

"Well so am I. But I'm not keeping my simple mind entertained by playing with a lighter."

"At least I have something to do. All you can do is sit there and do the 'look at me, I'm brooding' act; nobody's watching, you know? You might as well do the Tom Cruise in Risky Business underwear dance, like you always do when you think no one sees you."

"How could you even know that?" Angel said.

"So, you're admitting you do it?"

Angel paused for a moment, hiding a hint of embarrassment. "No," he finally said and paused again. "You know what? Just shut up."

"If you don't like it, why are you sitting by me?"

"Like I have any choice. This is the only shady spot nearby for now. But one more hour with you and I'll almost consider throwing myself out in the sun."

"Go for it. It's not like I would miss you, or anyone else would. If that was the case, Buffy or your little flunkies from L.A would have gotten you out of here by now."

Angel sighed. There was no arguing with him.

_Only ten more hours till the sun goes back down…._


End file.
